


Slapshot through the Heart

by Thrashing_Light



Series: Scar Tissue That I Know You Saw [1]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anger Management, Angst, College Hockey, Drug Use, F/M, Family Issues, Football | Soccer, Humor, Insults, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, One-Sided Relationship, Physical Disability, Sexual Content, Sexual Humor, Song Lyrics, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-07-21 17:28:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 37,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7396780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thrashing_Light/pseuds/Thrashing_Light
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sesshomaru Taisho and Nao 'Naraku' Kumo are athletes and roommates at Shikon State University. As they both struggle with their pasts catching up to them, they realize maybe they don't have to do it alone.</p><p>"An angel's smile is what you sell. You promise me heaven then put me through hell."-Bon Jovi</p><p>College setting AU. </p><p>Pairings: Sesshomaru/Naraku, Bankotsu/Jakotsu, some Inuyasha/Kagome</p><p>Not terribly great at summaries...but give it a try! :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Slapshot Through the Heart

Disclaimer. I do not own any of the following characters from Inuyasha, nor Bon Jovi's song: You Give Love a Bad Name. I also don't own any other songs in this fic.

Any opinions in this fic are of the characters, not of me, the writer. Also, I don't speak Portuguese, so if there are any mistranslated words I do apologize.

**Slapshot Through the Heart**

**)*(**

Sesshomaru had never been one to request special treatment, but it appeared Campus Housing had placed him in a 'handicapable friendly' dorm room anyway. It was a suite style room; he would share a spacious bathroom with one other student. They would also share a bedroom.

He accepted Shikon State because they gave him a full ride, and overlooked his less than stellar senior year highschool GPA. Life happened. His ACT score of 33, however proved he wasn't some brainless mutt. He had fought with the athletic department of Shikon State University to allow him to live off campus, but they mandated that all freshmen live on campus. He hadn't looked forward to living with a bunch of idiots.

He supposed living with just one idiot would be a compromise he would have to deal with. At least he lived in the athlete dorm.

Sesshomaru adjusted his left shoulder, attempting to roll the duffel bag strap towards his neck so it wouldn't fall off. He maneuvered his rolling luggage with his right arm down the hallway. They allowed him to move in a day early so he wouldn't have to deal with him trying to unpack with his disability and deal with all the other Neanderthals moving in.

As if only having one arm was a huge deal. Hadn't anyone seen war veterans, or victims of war torn areas? He wasn't that much of an oddity, and certainly not to be pitied or treated like a leper.

Expecting to be the only one in his dorm room, he let his duffel bag drop with a heavy thud, and let his rolling luggage fall and plucked the key card from his teeth he had been carrying and opened the door cursing under his breath.

"Can't wait to start this fresh hell." Sesshomaru muttered, wincing, his long ash blond hair got snagged by his backpack, again. He bent down to get the duffel bag with his pale hand, his unbound blond hair hung all around him, blocking his vision.

"Good to see you're as excited as I am." A sarcastic, baritone voice flooded the dorm room and Sesshomaru nearly jumped out of his skin as he snapped back up, amber eyes wide.

Standing in front of him was a solidly built, tall guy with black curly hair almost as long as his own. He had bourbon brown eyes that danced vibrantly. Sesshomaru assessed he had to be at least two inches taller than he was, and he was not short at 6'2''. He also had robust, rippling muscles underneath his New Jersey Devils T-shirt. He had to be at least twenty pounds of pure muscle heavier than he as well.

No matter, it's not like he planned on fighting him.

"You're already here." Sesshomaru stated blandly, picking up his belongings from the floor and moving them into the cramped, shared living room. His new roommate sat down, watching something on his laptop.

"How observant. I'm Naoki Kumo, my friends call me Naraku. You can call me Nao." Naoki's deep voice sounded all saccharine and thick like black licorice. Sesshomaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This, Nao, would be lucky if he used his name at all. He moved wordlessly past his worthless new roommate on the sofa and began to pile his belongings on his bed, which he didn't even get to choose! He had to take the one closest to the door.

This was awful already. The dorm wasn't even white; it was this strange dingy grey.

"You must be Sesshomaru Taisho, the new soccer striker. Too bad for you, no one here in America gives a shit about soccer. Maybe you should have picked a better sport." Was this imbecile Google stalking him? Why was he even still talking to him? Oh, and it wasn't like he hadn't heard that one before. Sesshomaru thanked his dual-citizenship.

"I don't plan on staying in America, especially if you're in it." Sesshomaru shot back, just who did this guy think he was? He heard a rustling of movement and shadowing the doorway, blocking his exit, stood Nao, looking bitter. Whatever.

"Do you even know who I am?" His voice stabbed menacingly and Sesshomaru didn't flinch. This guy obviously thought he was hot shit. He wasn't about to let this meathead intimidate him. He had taken plenty of self-defense classes and was a damn good Capoeira fighter.

"No. And I don't care to know." Sesshomaru's disinterest sunk palpably in the room, this guy must think he is someone who was worthy of notice, but he didn't care.

He turned his back on him and leaned the stub of his left arm down on his duffel back as leverage to unzip its contents. He started to get out his bedding when he felt a strong hand yank back his left shoulder back hard. Sesshomaru let loose a swing which was caught in Nao's other hand.

"I'm a defense-man, ice hockey enforcer. You're going to have to be a lot better than that to land a hit on me." Sesshomaru glared at the man, how dare he? He started it! Sesshomaru refused to let his anger surface, so he played ice hockey did he?

"Let go of me, peasant. You reek." He didn't really, he actually smelled pretty damn good, like he was wearing nice cologne. But Sesshomaru was no moron, he also smelled the dank odor of pot somewhere in the room.

Drugs were something Sesshomaru knew a lot about, especially cocaine and heroin. However, pharmaceuticals and the rave scene were more his speed. That's exactly what he needed, drop some molly, maybe snort a Vicodin and go out tonight. Maybe even some coke.

"Of course Ice Princess, wouldn't want you to come down to my level." Nao chuckled darkly, like he had him all figured out. His dark eyes roved over his body and it sent chills up his spine.

"I would think, of the both of us, you're the Ice Princess. Figure skater." Sesshomaru responded placidly and Nao just laughed again, turning away, all black curls and sure steps.

"This is going to be fun, I'll be living with someone who is more frigid than the ice I carve my skates into." Sesshomaru couldn't ascertain if it was a threat or not. He didn't care. He finished, with some difficulty, tugging the sheets on his bed one-handedly, and put most of his clothes away without further interruption until a knock broke the muddled growling, angry music of Nao's computer.

"Naraku! Open up!" One voice. "Are you seriously rooming with Captain Hook?" Another voice. "We're all gonna go get mangled!" Sesshomaru heard Nao open the door. Captain Hook. Hardy har har, like he hadn't heard that one before. He didn't even use a prosthesis much, mostly out of pride. He was saving up for a Bebionic hand he may get over the summer. For now, he had the typical hook one, but rarely used it.

"Idiots, I don't want to hear you say shit like that about him again. He is in the other room, Bankotsu. Just wait outside, I'll get my phone and the j's" Sesshomaru quirked his eyebrow, had Nao defended him somewhat? Like he cared what his friends thought, or needed his defense.

"Oh wow, so he moved in early too huh? I heard he is a real asshole." The third voice sounded. Oh, they really had no idea.

"If he's an asshole he is currently in good company. Let's go Jakotsu." He heard Nao retort and Sesshomaru let loose a hidden smirk, at least this Nao had a sense of humor. He didn't hear anyone else say anything and after some more shuffling he heard the door close again.

It was late now, he had the address in his phone for the warehouse rave. He grabbed his poi, his molly, and texted Kagurah, the artist he knew from his high school who also went to his university. She was tolerable and liked to hoop. He summoned an Uber, taking his Infiniti would be horrifyingly bad idea.

It was time to get absolutely mind-bendingly, euphorically numb. Super Chapado: twisted.

***

The first two months of college had not been what Sesshomaru expected socially.

He had managed to secure a starting spot on the soccer team, which was basically unheard of for a freshman forward. But he was a year older than most of them, and he was fast and his footwork was unmatched. The only other person on the team near him in skill was their left wing, Kouga King. He had slanted green eyes and long black hair, but always wore his in a ponytail, and he didn't take care of it like he should. Like Nao did.

He was alright, a bit arrogant and Sesshomaru knew arrogant. He and Kouga worked together on the field incredibly. Together they put up some impressive goals. They were, surprisingly, so far 7-1, leading their division. Sesshomaru was surprised at that considering the rest of their team was trash, aside from their sweeper, Miroku. He was certainly better than their keeper, Hiten.

Nao never let him live it down that his hockey team was undefeated and his soccer team wasn't. Sesshomaru just rolled his eyes at his provocations, he wasn't easily baited.

Despite his best efforts, Nao had started to grow on him. Their social circles didn't cross much, which Sesshomaru had actually expected. Nao mostly rolled with a popular fraternity on campus. There were constantly new people coming by his room. He didn't know why he didn't pledge their asinine frat and just move out of his room and in with one of the frat guys on campus, leaving him in much wanted solitude.

Sesshomaru's friends, by contrast, consisted of a few people he tolerated. Which was fine by him. He had made friends with his fellow soccer team players, but he didn't associate much with them, aside from Kouga, outside of their team.

Rin was a 'hippie-dippy' type who astonishingly didn't grate on his nerves with her ever sunny disposition. He met her in his mandatory entry level biology class, her major was Botany. She wanted to study flowers or something nauseatingly sweet like that. He, however truly enjoyed her company, she would go out with him to raves and spin hoops.

The 'tortured artist', Kagura, had more tattoos than he cared to count or map on her body. He rather liked her sarcasm and her constant use of "yo". Her major was, of course, Art History, and she could paint better than most of the artists whose work graced museums in his opinion. She and Rin were close, but Kagura definitely had a more cynical world view.

Jaken was a short guy, who had really good molly, mescaline, and other pill hook ups. His major was Political Science. He was pretty sharp; however, he came to Sesshomaru's defense a bit too easily in his opinion. Sesshomaru knew he wasn't a popular guy and really didn't need Jaken to bark back at any cur who voiced a negative opinion of him.

Lastly were the Iraqi twins, Ahmed and Ujab. They were always up to something which got them the name 'Double Trouble'. They were usually fairly hilarious. He swore they had this crazy twin sense where they knew what the other was thinking. Ahmed was a chemistry major and Ujab was a Computer Science major. More than once Sesshomaru had to darkly remind some racist dirtbags they weren't some 'ragheaded terrorists' studying chemistry and computers to make bombs.

And by remind, he belted a few neck-bearded frat boys across their fat faces in the middle of the quad. No one dared report him, a disabled soccer striker standing up against racist circle-jerkers screamed media target.

"And this graph shows…." Sesshomaru had zoned out of the lecture. It didn't matter, it was an easy class, one he could pass with his eyes closed. He probably just should have skipped it. He didn't even want to major in International Business Management but it was his father's dream for him…

"Earth to Iceman." Sesshomaru glared next to him. Another thing he didn't expect, the nickname Iceman stuck and that Nao was the same major he was, and of course in most of his classes.

He got the name when his least favorite American holiday, Halloween occurred. Actually, Sesshomaru hated most holidays. Halloween he had tolerated before the accident, now everyone just assumed he'd be a pirate or some sort of zombie for Halloween. How. Fucking. Original.

However, Nao stated since he was fourteen he had always gone as Maverick from Top Gun for Halloween. He even had a flight suit. What an obsessive freak show. Nao invited his friends to a huge Halloween party. And they all nagged him, especially Rin, into wearing a costume. Rin said she would force him to be her Samurai Lord to her Geisha if he didn't think of something else. Hell. No.

So, Nao bought him an Iceman flight jumpsuit and he joined the freak show. At least they won the beer-pong tournament. Sesshomaru still couldn't think of a worse movie than Top Gun, maybe Titanic.

Yet, why Nao insisted on sitting next to him in class while they lived with each other was something Sesshomaru had not begun to understand.

Nao leaned over to him, his whiskey colored eyes sent most women into orbit along with his sly grins. His black curly hair was damp and halfway tied back. He smelled really good, like coconut, probably his conditioner. His muscles were particularly on display today under his purple 'Sun's out Guns out' beater. He probably went to the gym right before class.

Sesshomaru always went late at night to practice his Capoeira in peace, either that or he ran. He didn't lift much; it was too much hassle to do the forms correctly without his left arm. Any muscle mass he had was strictly from practicing Capoeira.

He had no idea what Nao lifted, but it had to be serious because he went through protein powder and creatine like he had multiple people living inside him. How he wasn't fat Sesshomaru had no idea since Nao was basically a carnivore, except he didn't eat chicken, which was totally bizarre. Who doesn't eat chicken if you eat other meats? He said he didn't eat anything with feathers. So odd.

He was like some huge mystery; most things he did made little sense to Sesshomaru. He put hot sauce on everything, even peanut butter sandwiches. He hated any spoilers to movies, even ones he had no intent on watching. Nao had the absolute worst taste in music he had ever heard. He preferred Rin's 'give peace a chance' marshmallow fluff to Nao's scream-o, growling, baseless death metal.

Rotting Christ? Seriously.

They both, however, loved horror movies. Nao also had some pretty crazy tattoos. He had a pretty big one of a spider on his right calf, the four aces: Ace of Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades fanned out on his left calf. He also had a huge well-executed blue octopus on his right shoulder. Lastly he had the quote from 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas': 'Too weird to Live, too Rare to Die' across his chest in script.

It seemed appropriate, he was a weird, rare dude.

Sesshomaru, himself, had three tattoos. One was a joke. He had "cut below the dotted line" above his left stump. Nao lost his mind he laughed so hard when he saw it. The other tattoo he had was a blue crescent moon with a sword vertically though it on his back. Nao asked him when he was going to add the howling wolf, or a dreamcatcher like some hipster chick and Sesshomaru may have smoked some of his weed for that one.

His last one was in Portuguese across his shoulders, it was "aconteça o que acontecer, acontece." 'Whatever happens, happens'. He got it after the accident too. It was a poor attempt at trying to absolve him of the guilt of killing his father.

Nao also had a huge, strange burn across his back. They both had their scars, it seemed.

On the occasions they partied together they made a scary good beer pong team. Hence 'Team Top Gun.' of course he was 'Iceman'. When they weren't partying, he would also watch Nao lose over and over to his hockey cronies in video games. Sesshomaru used to like to play them, but playing them now was a hassle. Nao had broken more controllers than he could count, but he always replaced them. Nao was abysmal at all video games except puzzle games.

Nao also would keep insisting he should come see him play one of his hockey games, even though it was clear his teammates hated him and Sesshomaru hated crowds unless properly lit on MDMA.

"You live with me. Why do you insist on sitting next to me?" Sesshomaru growled in a low whisper. Couldn't he just be on his phone like most other people in this class? Nao just leaned in closer and smiled a white toothed grin, his teeth were perfect too. Sesshomaru now smelled his cologne, he wouldn't be able to smell that without thinking of him. He ruined Gucci Guilty for him.

"Because pestering you keeps me from falling asleep, and no girls have snapped me their tits yet today to distract me." Sesshomaru almost rolled his eyes. He did not exist as Nao's source of amusement, contrary to what he thought. He also didn't need to hear about his various 'sexploits.' Nao had girls chasing after him constantly. He had walked in more than once to see one bouncing on his balls, screeching like a cat in heat.

Nao swore he had simply forgotten to text Sesshomaru to warn him, but he knew Nao better than that. He wanted to make him jealous, of what he wasn't sure. Nao obviously thought he wasn't getting laid, which was false. He just didn't bring his conquests back to his room and did not prefer the frat mattresses Nao brought home, regardless of gender.

"What a shame your flavor of week hasn't given you her free sample yet." Sesshomaru drawled out and Nao cackled which got him a stern glare from the professor. Nao punched him lightly on the arm, Sesshomaru permitted it because he wasn't about to make a scene in a hundred-person lecture hall.

"Don't actually use your sense of humor too much Iceman, you might burn it out. Or worse yet lose your ever so stoic personality that drives chicks nuts." Nao referred to the idiot sorority girls who would pester Nao about him.

He doubted any of those girls would actually proposition him. If any did they would probably just stare at his arm stump. They probably thought, like many girls and guys before, that just because he was missing an arm that he was someone who needed to be coddled through sex. Sesshomaru planned a retort when his phone buzzed. He looked down at it, frowning, he wasn't expecting to hear from Rin about the rave till later.

It was an email from his step-mother, Izayoi. Sesshomaru froze. He read the email. He willed his hand not to shake.

Subject: Re:119: Estate Case.

'The judge ruled in my favor. Inuyasha is set to inherit all shares and sole ownership of Tessaiga Enterprises when he turns of age. Mr. Totosai will send you all the paperwork and ruling, to have it notarized and signed. Consider your funding from here on cut. Only your money market account, your ROTH IRA, and savings account will remain yours, as well as the Infiniti and the Mazda Rx-7. Aside from finalizing this, please do not contact us any further.

-Izayoi Taisho'

All color drained from Sesshomaru's face as he almost dropped his phone in shock. Bokuseno had finally lost his case. He had forgotten the results were today, why he didn't know. Maybe because Nao woke him up with a super soaker and he retaliated by smacking him a few times with his own hockey stick. He told Bokuseno he couldn't make it, but apparently his presence wasn't needed in Orange County for the Judge's ruling.

He knew it was coming. His blood ran like ice water through his veins anyway.

He had been fighting this war of attrition for a little more than two years. It's why he started college a year late, at nineteen. Izayoi had endless time and ample money to throw at the best lawyers she could find. No one was better at Estate law than the Attorneys of Myoga and Totosai in Orange County. He just didn't think he would lose everything. The estate, the company, the stocks, his home. Izayoi won everything, he lost it all. His chest iced over. He hated the cold.

The bottom fell out of his stomach and he wanted to curl up and disappear, or lash out and kill someone. Maybe he would just burn his home to the ground.

"No." It really wasn't his home. Not since the accident.

***

_Sirens. Damn the sirens, can they just turn the damn things off?! Why does everything hurt so much?! Why am I upside down? Is the Skyline upside down? This is a lot of blood. This is a lot of glass. The Skyline is definitely totaled. My whole body feels like it's on fire. Or maybe I'm just covered in acid?! I can't hardly see anything. My eyes are stinging. Fuck this._

_Santo Deus, is that my arm?! It's completely pulverized. That can't be right…_

_Where were they?! The highway? The 405? Where was father? Was this all his fault, did he kill father? Sesshomaru looked across the car, his father was no longer in it. In fact, he was on the pavement, a crumpled, mangled mess of flesh and bone._

_He had gone straight through the windshield._

***

Sesshomaru's chest began to clench, and he felt short of breath all of the sudden. His lungs seized up as if in a vice. His eyes widened and pupils constricted. His hand trembled either in rage, despair or the isolating realization he had been completely disowned. Hypothermia. He had hypothermia.

Of all the times! He didn't even have his Xanax, Ativan, or his Valium on him. Shit!

"Hey…Sho…you good man?" He thought he heard Nao, but his voice sounded a bit too high, and concerned, which Nao never was. Sesshomaru swallowed, he would not lose his cool here. He grabbed his notebook, then the pen, then the book, and shoved them all haphazardly into his bag. Not his style at all but he would deal with the mess later.

He had to get out.

He threw his phone into his bag last, and grabbed the keys to his Infiniti.

He needed a special fix. Jaken would still be in class, but he knew someone who wouldn't be, some random person introduced to him through snapchat. He was probably some dangerous scumbag but he didn't care.

Sesshomaru, fast as light, flew out of his seat, not bothering to apologize to the professor and all but sprinted out of the classroom. His head spun. He was done. He lost everything. He had no home. No belongings beyond what was in his dorm room.

He literally had nothing.

He didn't even have enough money to appeal the case again. Even if he sold the Infiniti it wouldn't be enough to keep Bokuseno. No way in hell was he selling his father's old blue Rx-7, he even named her a Portuguese name: Tereza Senda, Ten for short. He would keep that car even if he couldn't drive stick anymore.

His whole body lanced with jolts of zapping, muscle clenching, lightning. Where was his car? It had to be somewhere. He clicked the keyless entry but accidently hit the alarm. His car, predictably in the handicap spot, exactly where he left it, began to flash its lights and horn blared.

Damned sirens!

He fumbled with the keyless entry, almost dropping it and managed to silence his car. Ok. Well at least he found the car. He got into his pristine white Infiniti Q60 with tan leather interior. Top trim level available. He threw his bag into the passenger floorboard and slammed the coupe door. He willed his lungs to breathe. In and out, just like that jackass therapist said once. In and Out. Dentro e fora, dentro e fora.

It's not going to be ok, but when had it ever been? His whole body shivered. He had to have hypothermia.

Sesshomaru, collapsed over the leather steering wheel let out a shuttering wheeze. He pounded his one fist on the dashboard of his sports coupe.

It wasn't fair. Inuyasha didn't even want to run their father's company. He didn't even know how to spell the word business! All he did was play CS:GO, knock up that whiney slag Kagome, skip high school, and piss their father's money away on the stupidest shit like drones, his lawyer fees for that one DUI at sixteen, and a fake sword collection.

He rummaged through his bag carelessly, getting his phone and taking a photo of his tachometer. He typed the caption, 'I need to redline tonight.' He knew he would get a snap back.

"It doesn't matter anyway. Like I care. Não tô nem aí. I don't need them." Sesshomaru's voice fell like a cinderblock off a sky scraper. He threw on his seat belt, cranked the ignition to his Infiniti, hearing the engine roar like a dragon. He punched the automatic gearshift into reverse, and grabbed the steering knob he had installed special on the Infiniti to reverse out. He outfitted the Infiniti as well with a pedal for turn signals and windshield wipers. He also installed a cool air intake, special rear sway bar, and a supercharger.

The tires squealed and smoked on the pavement as he tore out of the parking lot, racing by a confused Nao standing on the sidewalk. Sesshomaru didn't see him standing there, hand out shouting at him. He didn't really see anything, including the red light he ran.

***

Sesshomaru soon after got his mescaline fix, and it was so good he didn't return to campus for three days. He drank, hit some mediocre cocaine, and dropped some other designer drugs he didn't know anything about. He ended up halfway across the city, in someone's basement with liquid laundry detergent painted all over him from a forgettable black-light party.

He didn't even know where he put his phone during those glorious seventy-two hours. He hoped his car wasn't towed. He had to ask five different dudes passed out in the house if they had seen the Infiniti. Sesshomaru had no idea where he last drove it. One creep finally remembered they left it at a head shop across down. He had some scuzzy smelling guy call an Uber for him, luckily he had money on him and paid the guy back.

He was fairly sure no one remembered who he was in the basement. Anonymity was for the best. Apparently he had told the basement guys his name was 'Iceman'. What. The. Hell.

The elation ended as soon as he got back. He found his phone under his car seat. Thirty-three missed calls, who knew how many texts or whatever. What did these people care anyway? They didn't know the first thing about him. He erased them all. He then called his coach, Coach Taijya, who chewed him out, as he should have.

Luckily he had only missed two soccer practices, but he was still suspended for tomorrow's game. It was an easy game he knew no scouts would be at. He didn't care about it.

He sent a snap of his tachometer again to his hook up with the caption 'don't snap me, I'll snap you.' He didn't need this shady dealer blowing up his phone too.

He arrived back in his dorm room. He needed sleep and his vitamins, or something. He couldn't quite remember if he had slept properly. No. he had. At one point he definitely woke up under a playground swing set, in the middle of the night, nude. He was under a sleeping bag with some purple haired guy he didn't remember having sex with, but there was a used condom next to them so he guessed he had.

He was rather proud of himself, he wasn't sore so he had to have pitched. The guy wasn't bad looking though he couldn't remember his name, nor remember if he had made any concessions or remarks about his arm. Just the kind of sex he could roll with.

He picked the keycard from his teeth with his hand, unlocked the door and opened it to find Ahmed and Ujab both shouting at Nao.

Super. Just what he needed.

Yelling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I truly appreciate any feedback! :)
> 
> -TL


	2. And You're to Blame

  
**And You're to Blame**

**)*(**  


"Holy shit! Where the fuck were you?" Ujab asked, slack jawed. What were Ahmed and Ujab doing here? And they really shouldn't be yelling at Nao, he could easily take them ou-

Sesshomaru found himself shoved up against the wall by a positively enraged Nao. What did this guy think he was doing? Was he on something?

"What happened to you?!" Nao shouted and Sesshomaru blinked. Nao was really close to him his hands burned his shoulders and the back of his head hurt from when it hit the wall. Why was he so pissed off? It's not like he had to worry about him paying rent. And he was only gone three days. He had disappeared for weeks at a time before, in Rio, and in America and no one cared.

Nao's eyes incinerated his brain as they lasered up and down his body, looking for what he had no idea. He almost looked anxious.

"Out. I had to take care of some things." Sesshomaru glared right back into Nao's eyes which almost looked red in the fluorescent light. He suddenly wished his house, no, now Izayoi's house was located close enough for him to vandalize it. Maybe he would just piss all over their gate.

"Dude, let him go, you can't just slam him up against the wall, he's handi-." Ahmed clenched his fist and Nao speared him with a glare that could melt steel.

"GET. OUT." Nao bellowed and even Sesshomaru's blood thinned. Was he really going to have to fight Nao? He could barely walk up to his dorm, he couldn't fight anyone right now. He had to take some of those special vitamins to right his serotonin levels otherwise he'd be a depressed, suicidal mess again.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes over to Ahmed and Ujab, lifting his chin in a gesture that meant 'I'll deal with the pissy figure skater and text you later'. Ahmed and Ujab, reluctantly, left and Sesshomaru turned back to Nao whose ears were smoking from anger.

"I know you were on a bender Sesshomaru. Suikotsu, our goaltender, said he saw you two nights ago, fucked out of your skull at a Taco Bell with some people I know are bad dudes. And I'm talking about prime-time crime, not like public intoxication bullshit. One of those guys, Magatsuhi, beat a guy to death with a wall phone. Hakudoshi, the bottle blond? Definitely stabbed someone to death over a bad drug deal." Nao hissed and Sesshomaru sighed. He didn't need anyone parenting him. Nao knowing practically everyone was such a nuisance.

He swore Nao had eyes everywhere. He didn't think anyone in the basement of the place he woke up in was this Magatsuhi nor Hakudoshi though. They all looked pretty harmless.

Wait, no, the snapchat douche was probably Magatsuhi. He took too many selfies with guns like he was someone who actually mattered.

Nao's hands still hadn't let up on him, the body heat that radiated from him was unexpected though not unpleasant, but he wasn't going to let him just hold him against a wall.

"It's none of your business. Release me." Sesshomaru ordered and Nao had a devilish look creep onto his face. His dark eyebrows furrowed. He wasn't about to let him go, it seemed.

"Oh it's my business when I have to cover for your ass from your wierdo fucking friends. That Rin girl was in tears, Jaken waked and baked for two days here in the common room he was so freaked you were missing. I had to kick him out. Oh and that goth chic Kagura threw her combat boot at me thinking I did something to you. As if I'd waste my time and energy fucking with you." That got Sesshomaru's attention. He didn't mean to make Rin cry. Jaken was not one get stoned by himself, and Kagura, despite her tough attitude, wasn't prone to violence. But wait, did Nao just say he wasn't worth his time?

"If that's how you really feel, that I'm not worth your time and energy then…" Sesshomaru, quick as a whip shot his right arm up and jabbed his thumb down into a critical pressure point on Nao's inner elbow. His left arm let up and with a dancer's grace, Sesshomaru spun out of his hold.

"…Why do you care?" A bolt of anger clipped down Sesshoaru's spine. How dare Nao think he wasn't worth his time?

Nao didn't seem to be impressed by his Hapkido maneuver and the room filled with a noxious, tense miasma. Nao moved to the table and picked up a manila envelope. He shook out its contents.

It was the court ruling. Nao went through his mail, or more likely Totosai came by himself and delivered it. Oh, this figure skater was going to get it. No one pried into his life. Sesshomaru saw red, he got into his Ginga position.

How could he have possibly thought Nao understood his boundaries was beyond him. Nao had been doing so well up until his point, not asking him stupid questions, nor prying into his past.

"You went through my mail? That is private. You had no right." Sesshomaru gritted his teeth. And clenched his fist. He began to sway and undulate in a quick Balanca before going into his Role which spun him in a sashayed 180 degree turn and he ended it with a surprise Chapa-De-Costas horse kick.

Nao didn't see it coming, or rather he did, he was just a tad memorized by the rhythm his roommate all the sudden seemed to possess. The kick hit him straight in the chest and propelled him back into the sofa, sending him, and the sofa flipping over with a huge, floor quaking, crash.

Sesshomaru straightened. Nao deserved that, but perhaps he had gone too far…because now he felt really light headed…and Nao was certainly going to try to knock his teeth out. Sesshomaru prepared for a counter attack but instead Nao just shot up from behind the sofa, chuckling.

"That was like the sexiest thing I've ever seen Iceman. I can't even be mad." What? Did Nao just mock him? He straightened up, trying to erase the black spots from his vision. Nao, while chuckling, came from around the overturned sofa, serious as a car-bomb.

He threw the envelope and its contents across the coffee table.

"I care because I've been there." Nao righted the sofa with another bang. The tennis players below them weren't going to say anything or Nao would just gut them.

"You've seen the burn on my back. My old man used to be a big time criminal defense attorney on the East Coast. The best actually. One time he defended a wingnut douche-cannon who bombed an abortion clinic, killed some women. My old man got him a reduced sentence, thirty with parole. A husband of one of the victims didn't like that too much and Molotov cocktailed our house. My mom didn't make it out; hell I barely did, I was twelve." Nao paused, his strong hips maneuvering like a python to sit on the now righted sofa.

"The pus-bather who bombed my house, who murdered my mom, got a life sentence. Obviously his attorney wasn't as good as my old man. The fucking coward hung himself in his cell before I could bribe a guy I knew in prison someone to cut his nut sack off. Anyway, my old man changed jobs, we changed our names, and now he is a divorce attorney." Nao unloaded, his voice sticky like black tar. Sesshomaru had no idea about any of this, his throat went dry and he knew he looked like shit, well now he felt like it.

"My mother moved back to Brazil, taking me with her when I was three after my parent's divorce. My dad would visit some at first, but eventually stopped. I would visit America during the summers and for winter holiday, well at least for a while, then that too had to stop. Things eventually didn't work out in Rio. My father offered that I could live with him. I gave in and moved back to Orange County when I was sixteen. After about maybe a year of living with him..." Sesshoumaru struggled with the words, still after all these years.

"My father owned a Nissan r34 Skyline, special import, right side driver. I spouted out some trivial nonsense after he forgot to pick me up from another soccer practice and I had to wait for an hour for him. I accused him that he loved his new son and wife more than me. Typical teenage angst drivel. My father looked me in the eye, and struck me. I deserved it. I don't remember the accident, but my arm was out the window at the time. Apparently he hit gravel, overcorrected and hit the jersey barrier. The Skyline flipped a few times. They couldn't save my father or my arm." Sesshomaru decided to reciprocate with his own sob story, he hadn't told it to anyone, not even Rin. What made him decide to spill his guts to Nao was another complete mystery to him.

Nao probably wouldn't even care. Nao was even innocent in his. At least he didn't kill his father.

"You don't look Brazillian." Nao leaned back, his pecs flexed under his Dethklok T-shirt. Really, that's what he got from that? Not that he committed patricide?

"I'm not. I'm an alemão to them, a…really blond guy. My mother's parents immigrated to Argentina from Switzerland, and then to Brazil where they had my mother. Rumor has it my mother's parents had some sort of ties to the Nazis so they fled. My mother and her parents were never close though." Sesshomaru blinked, why had he gone and said that?

"Heil Sesshomaru! Eich bin ein Volkswagen. Gas the peasantry!" Nao put his hand in a fake Nazi salute, just to bait him. Sesshomaru picked up an empty pack of cigarettes, he didn't know where they came from, and threw it at Nao. He had never seen Nao smoke tobacco.

"You're a sick filho de puta." Sesshomaru bit out and Nao chuckled darkly, knowing it meant son of a bitch. He held up a piece of paper from the ruling.

"I've been called worse things in bed. And no, that would be your fuck-wit half-brother, I googled him. He looks like a total spoiled 'Afluenza' dipshit. Are you just going to throw everything away? Are you going to let this enema bag of a human win? Like I said my old man is an attorney, you can appeal this. You just got boned by getting Judge Sounga. He is known to be swayed with money and is about to be under a DOJ investigation. You just need to get this higher." Nao explained and Sesshomaru huffed. As if he didn't know that already.

"Don't be so condescending. I haven't the money left to appeal, and unless some miracle happens, like a magic wand, lamp, jewel or something lands in my lap that I can wish on, Izayoi will simply grease the palm of the next judge." Sesshomaru reached forward and grabbed the paper out of his hand. Nao's eyes narrowed in victory. Why Sesshomaru didn't know. Again the man was a mystery.

"Then it's a good thing I already faxed a copy of this case to my old man's estate lawyer friend who owes him a massive favor. Can you say Pro-Bono? Oh and by the way, finding a fax machine in this day and age was a quest in and of itself, I basically had to—" Nao cut himself off because Sesshomaru's jaw dropped.

He did what? He….gave the case to his father's friend for pro-bono work? He didn't know the first thing about him. About it. About anything. Sesshomaru's stomach turned upside down. He was going to be sick.

Did Nao do this to out his secret? That he killed his father? Was this some sort of blackmail?

"Why…why did you do that?" Sesshomaru stuttered. He wanted to run.

"Huh? Why do you look scared? I did it because she is a gaping wizard-sleeve labia'd cunt who has no right trying to twist your father's will like this. You're my friend, and before you deny it, it's too damn bad. What I want, I get, and you're mine. And no one, especially some basic, shovel handed, gold digging whore, messes with what's Naoki Kumo's." Nao stood up from the sofa and maneuvered smoothly around the coffee table. He moved like a wolf that had smelled an elk. Sesshomaru swallowed, knowing he was the elk.

Sesshomaru's heart skipped a beat. What had Nao said? He didn't belong to anyone. This must be the after effects of the mescaline he dropped. None of this could actually be happening.

Nao closed the distance. He looked too damn strong to fight now, his hair was completely down and it seemed like it was alive. It writhed and moved like a sea creature on his head.

OK, no this was definitely an aftershock of the mescaline. He needed to lay down.

"I can't win it, even if it's pro bono. I've been fighting this for years already. She is keenly aware of my drug addictions; I ended up in rehab a few times, obviously unsuccessful. She also found out about my mother's probable Nazi heritage. If I appeal it, all my, and my mother's dirty laundry will be aired out." Damn it Sesshomaru, why couldn't you just stay silent or change the subject? Nao responded by closing the distance, looming over him like a dark mythological creature. Like a Demon. Sesshomaru stood resolutely, he wasn't going to a step back like some scared girl.

"Then, we fight back. Dirty. Just like how I like my sex." Nao's voice rumbled like a promise and Sesshomaru managed to roll his eyes, but Nao simply got out his phone, showing him a phone number.

"My father contracts out a certain Private Investigator for his messy divorce cases. He offers her services to his clients to see what terrible things their spouses did or are doing to maximize the alimony and divorce settlement. Kanna Glass. She is the best on the West Coast. I'll give her a call…for a price." Nao's finger hovered above her contact number and Sesshomaru's chest tightened.

What could his price be? Sesshomaru had about three thousand USD liquid, he could access but he'd rather just pull funds from his other accounts.

"I can call my broker in the morning and move some money around. How much are you asking for?" Sesshomaru pulled up his banking apps, he had his broker's number in his phone somewhere.

However, Nao pushed his hand down, his large hand hot like beach sand on his own. Sesshomaru's eyebrows slanted in confusion as he met Nao's mischievous whiskey eyes with his own light amber ones.

"Oh. I don't mean money. I don't want that from you. I want something else." Nao's baritone voice reverberated through the apartment like a shadow and he sounded a touch seductive.

An image of Nao naked and wet, pressing him into the gray fiberglass wall of their shower, mouth at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, leaving a dark, possessive hickey. His mouth went dry at Nao's soaking, black hair snaking into his own blond strands then lowering to his knees. He wanted Nao looking up through his eyelashes, with eyes that promised an outlawed, tabooed pleasure ride. As quickly as the image blipped into his mind and he shoved it out.

Not only did Sesshomaru only see Nao sleep with women, he couldn't be thinking such things about Nao. Nao was…

Nao was obnoxious, dangerous, devious, dishonorable, probably a felon, tall, dark, and handsome. Someone who could probably get most anyone in bed. He wouldn't be interested in some pill popping head-case who couldn't even properly do some sex positions that he probably favored, even if Nao was bi.

Sesshomaru's lips parted to say something but nothing relevant came to mind. They were so close he could make out an old scar on the left side of Nao's face he never saw before, the striations in his brown irises, the stubble on his strong, carved chin.

"What could you possibly want from me?" Sesshomaru wanted to slap himself in the face. He had asked what? He should have told him to fuck off that he could find his own Private Investigator! That this was all going to implode in his face any way.

"I want you to come to the rest of my home hockey games, and cheer for me, and like it. You can't miss one; I know your soccer practices and games don't interfere. I know your schedule. Also, you aren't going to miss any more soccer practices. Kouga came by here looking for you; I forbid you to let your game suffer because you need to score some blow or whatever shit Magatsuhi is slinging now. If you are to be gone for more than two nights, I get a call, not a text, not a snap, a call. Otherwise no Kanna Glass, and I'll tell your coach, Shako Taijya, why you really didn't show up to practice." Nao's dominant presence caused Sesshomaru to back up like he promised himself he wouldn't.

His back now flush against the poster of a mostly nude Kate Upton. Nao's poster of course. Most of the decorations were, like all the stolen street signs, the hockey posters, and the assorted lawn gnomes they 'liberated' from people's lawns. Except for the Brazillian flag he had in his room.

Shit what had he gotten himself into? Coach Taijya couldn't figure out why he missed practice for real. He'd be drug tested and cut from the team. Acid didn't show up in your system but cocaine sure did.

Nao positively undid him, his body sizzled in forbidden arousal and betrayed him by having his groin get warm and tingle. Sesshomaru, slightly disappointed that Nao wasn't going to ask for something a bit more physical, tried to collect his thoughts. What was Nao's deal?

Sesshomaru's mind went blank, how did any of this really benefit Nao? He had to go to his hockey games and cheer for him? Why would Nao want him to do that? Sesshomaru knew their hockey team had a ton of fans salivating over them, especially over him and Bankotsu, their center.

And why did he care about his soccer games? And why was he acting like a concerned parent? What was all of this? He must be some crazy control freak.

"I accept." Sesshomaru looked up at Nao, getting himself together. He needed a shower, a cold one. He couldn't shake that warm feeling in his groin, and it certainly wasn't going to be taken care of by Nao. Of course he didn't want it to be. Of course.

"Good Iceman, first home game is in four days against Kagewaki University, Saturday night. Wear our colors ok? I know you have a thing for red and white, but our school mascot, in case you haven't noticed, is the Hornets. Those are yellow and black." Nao let up on him straightening as if he hadn't just almost tried to seduce him. God he was a fool to even entertain that idea.

"You're a condescending dick. I'm taking a shower." Sesshomaru rocked up from the wall, his hair smelled like tobacco, and probably a lot worse things. The laundry detergent was sticky and tacky and he had been wearing the same red 'Wasted Penguinz' DJ duo T-shirt now for three days. He probably smelled like a truck stop bathroom.

"Yeah, remember you said I reeked when we met? You should smell yourself." Sesshomaru flipped off Nao who just darkly smirked, eyes scheming.

"Go to hell." Sesshomaru barked.

"I'd rule it if I did." Nao challenged back and Sesshomaru couldn't help but inwardly grin at that, because it would happen. Sesshomaru went in his room to grab his towel and a change of clothes. He came out and Nao was now putting the sheets of his ruling back into his manila envelope.

"What was that fighting dancing thing you did to me earlier?" Nao asked, sounding almost genuinely interested. Come to think of it, Nao seemed interested in a lot that he did.

"Capoeira. A Brazillian martial art. I practiced it for over a decade in Brazil. I was better at it when I still had…well. I used to be better. It's a dance and a martial art, it helps with my soccer." Sesshomaru admitted. It was a passion of his along with soccer, his mother had nurtured both before her bi-polar disorder got out of control and she too turned to drugs.

When he turned sixteen he had to get out, her heroin addiction had become too much for him to take care of himself. He thought having an addict parent would make him not want to be one himself, but no. He just never touched intravenous stuff. Nao quirked a dark eyebrow.

"So that's what you do when you go to the gym." Nao realized and Sesshomaru nodded. Yeah, jackass, of course he didn't go there and lift weights. He would have better results by now. Sesshomaru sighed through his nose, went into the bathroom, dry swallowed a handful of vitamins and got into the shower.

He'd practice his Capoeira again tonight.

***

"So…why are we at your scary, possible sociopathic roommate's hockey game?" Ahmed asked, looking around at the teeming fans screaming and hammered. Ahmed was pretty drunk. Sesshomaru was properly twisted, he took about three Vicodin and did four or so shots of Cachaça.

He allowed himself to grin slightly back; he was in a positively good mood. Ujad had his arm around some girl, trying to add her to his Instagram or something. He took bad selfies; he should quit while he was ahead.

"He probably lost a bet Ah." Ujad responded, the girl in the crook of his arm giggled. Well, maybe he was getting somewhere. Sesshomaru took a swig of his flask and passed it to Ahmed. Jaken would be here soon, maybe Kouga. The girls were having hoop and makeup night, so no Kagura or Rin.

"Something like that, Ujab." Sesshomaru watched as the players started to skate onto the ice. He was wearing black, as promised. He would absolutely not wear yellow. Rin looked good in yellow, he did not.

He looked to the side, Jaken and Kouga began to maneuver through the crowd. Sesshomaru got a place at the glass, near their own blue line. Kouga looked good in yellow, he had begun to put on some muscle and groom his hair. Sesshomaru liked to think it was his own vanity rubbing off onto his wingman.

"I've never seen so many white people in one place." Ahmed elbowed Sesshomaru who shrugged, there wasn't anything he could do about that.

"Hey guys. If it makes you feel better Ahmed, I am half native American. Cherokee. Maybe you can build a sandcastle and I can build a tipi. If we build it, they will come!" Kouga cracked and beer came out of Ujad's nose, the girl he was macking on grimaced and ran back towards her gaggle of girlfriends. Ahmed slapped his twin on the back.

"You ass. I was about to get her digits too," Ujab started sputtering. Jaken rolled his eyes, he had dyed his hair green and he was not so secretly puffing on a joint.

"You had no shot. Maybe Sho here since he was the one she angled her phone at in the selfie. She was using you to get to him." Jaken accused, he looked horrid in yellow, but at least they were all wearing the school's colors. Ujab's jaw dropped but before he could retort the loud speaker popped and crackled.

"And let's hear it for our own Shikon Hornets!" Everyone drunkenly screamed and Sesshomaru scanned the ice, easily spotting Nao lazily skating backwards, black curly hair streaming down out of his helmet. The intro to 'Down of Sickness' by Disturbed, began to boom out the horribly outdated sound system. Sesshomaru ached to update their sound equipment.

Now, Nao, he rocked black and yellow. He could probably rock anything, well maybe except white. Nao, completely in the zone, threw his hands up in the air, commanding more noise.

And more noise they gave him. He even yelled, which is something Sesshomaru rarely did. The electric energy of the ice rink reminded him of the outdoor music festivals he loved to go to. It wasn't just the Vicodin he popped, he enjoyed the hockey game. He was glad Nao coerced him into coming. The thrum of the crowd, the clack of the sticks against the ice, the rattle of the puck along the boards buzzed like a live wire in his bones.

He didn't actually need the Cachaça; he was already intoxicated. He slapped his hand against the glass.

"Get a haircut!" Jaken yelled good-naturedly as loud as he could when Nao skated by, and he simply turned and powdered ice at them, it hitting the glass. Sesshomaru could see the devilish, practically fanged smile on his face.

"First up, Assistant captain, Center, number five, Bankotsu Banryu! Left Wing number seven, Jakotsu Suto! Right Wing, number eight, Renkotsu Napalmo! Defenseman number nine Ginkotsu Napalmo! Captain, defenseman number six Nao, Naraku, Kumo! and Goaltender number ten, Suikotsu Saint-Claw. Those are our Undefeated Hornets! Swarm hornets, swarm!" Sango Taijya, apparently the daughter of his coach, was on loudspeaker and she was quite good. Sesshomaru supposed Renkotsu and Ginkotsu were cousins, they didn't look anything alike.

Everyone banged on the glass as Bankotsu took the face off. He won it and the other team took on a cautious approach to defense. Sesshomaru knew some of the rules to ice hockey, he had seen some games on television, but it wasn't that popular in Brazil so he was still quite new to it.

He also knew defensemen, like Nao, had to possess superior skating abilities so the forwards couldn't take advantage, and react to break-aways and to take advantage of them. He could tell Nao's skating was the cleanest, and exact so far, at least judging from his own soccer experience.

He decided he was quite the fan, and that Nao was the epitome of deadly grace. He was a main reason the other team had only six or so shots on goal to their thirteen. He also didn't play as dirty as he claimed. Though, he had already been in the penalty box once for tripping, on the whole the other team had more penalties.

Sesshomaru couldn't help beam with pride, but he didn't let it show, beyond what seemed to be normal cheering. If he appeared more emotional than normal, he could blame it on the flask he was passing around and Jaken's joint he snuck hits from.

Airhorn!

"Suto with the goaaall! Banryu with the assist! One-Zero Hornets!" Sango shouted through the loudspeaker and everyone jumped, Sesshomaru watched Nao pretty much tackle Jakotsu into the boards in a huge team huddle.

_"There's only two types of guys out there, Ones that can hang with me, and ones that are scared. So baby I hope that you came prepared. I run a tight ship so, beware. I'm like the ringleader. I call the shots!"_ Sesshomaru's eyes went wide in confusion when Britney Spears' 'Circus' blasted through the aged speakers. All their fans screamed and went wild when Jakotsu and Bankotsu did Britney's choreographed dance to the song. These guys were outside their minds.

They started up again, this time the opposing team bristled with agitation at the taunt. Sesshomaru could feel it, just like in soccer.

He whooped loudly when Nao got in a particularly nasty cross check on some lowly opponent and he fell to the ice. It must feel similarly to when he gets in the perfect slide tackle. Nao, clearly was doing his duty as enforcer since the other team seemed to be provoking them into penalties at every turn for an advantage.

It wasn't until the third period, however, that things really got particularly dicey. Nao won yet another defensive face off but immediately the opponent's right wing slashed Nao hard on shoulder with his stick. Sesshomaru straightened, that could have easily been his face.

Nao raced up to him, the icing referee clearly saw the penalty but he knew Nao shouted something at the guy for the blatant foul. Nao's eyes were on fire and the other guy dropped his gloves. What a mistake.

Everyone around him was screaming 'fuck him up', or 'knock the shit' out of him.

"Make him kneel Nao! Drop him!" Sesshomaru growled out. He knew fighting got you ejected from the game. In the NHL you could fight, but not in NCAA. He also knew that it wouldn't deter Nao in the least.

Nao dropped his and the shorter opponent, who obviously had a death wish, pushed past the smaller referee, grabbed Nao's jersey and threw the first punch. Nao blocked it like someone gave him a high five and jacked back hard and with a sick, true right hook, slammed his fist into the guy's jaw. The opponent, miraculously stayed on his skates.

Sesshomaru smirked. Nao definitely played the enforcer role well, however he was also incredibly relieved Nao didn't decide to come at him the other night for kicking him through the sofa. He didn't want to think about how a punch from him would feel. Probably like a truck.

Still clutching Nao's jersey, their right wing attempted another right cross but Nao just gut punched him for stupidity.

"That's what we're talking about!" Ahmed and Ujad yelled synchronized. Sesshomaru flashed a wicked grin as the opponent crumpled to the ice. Nao's hands were still clenched as the refs threw him, and the other guy out of the game. He tried to catch his gaze but he knew Nao at that point, was probably still seeing red. They gave the other team the slashing penalty and with a four on three, Jakotsu made quick work of another goal.

Airhorn.

Sesshomaru looked at Kouga and they both yelled "GOOAAALLLLLLLLAAAZZZOOOO!" God they were drunk. This was hockey not soccer, but whatever a goal was a goal and a net was a net.

"Suto with the goal! R. Napalmo with the assist!" Sango announced through the loudspeaker excitedly

_"Oops, I did it again. I played with your heart, got lost in the game. Oh baby, baby. Oops, you think I'm in love. That I'm sent from above. I'm not that innocent."_ This time it was 'Oops, I did it again' by Britney Spears and Ahmed and Ujad looked like they were going to piss themselves they were laughing so hard at Jakotsu, and this time Renkotsu dancing Britney's dance on the redline. Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile, especially when he caught Nao singing the song from the penalty box.

"Na, Na ,Na, Na, hey, hey hey, goodbye!" Everyone sang as the final buzzer rang, final score 2-0. Kouga slung his arm around Sesshomaru, hand working though his waist length, ash blond hair. Kouga then leaned into his left side, swaying a bit drunkenly. He watched as Nao and the rest of his teammates cleared the bench and penalty box respectively and crushed Jakotsu.

Nao and the rest of them played a bit dirty, sure, but they were also skilled. Especially Bankotsu, Jakotsu, and obviously Nao. The other team limped off the ice in shame to the tune of 'Black and Yellow' by Wiz Khalifa.

_'Checkin' game, I'm ballin out on every level. Hear them haters talk but there's nothing you can tell 'em. just made a million, got another million on my schedule'_ Sesshomaru wasn't a big fan of Wiz Khalifa

Kouga turned to him, teal eyes lit in a hazy, drunken idea.

"I got the hookup to the best party at Miroku's frat house Sig Ep Chi. Let's go melt face." Sesshomaru looked to Jaken, Ahmed and Ujab.

"Will it be a sausage fest, or will there actually be girls there?" Ujab asked, one track mind.

"Oh man, you do not know Miroku Holywind, he wrangles girls like a cowboy at a rodeo. You'll be swimming in it. Let's jet, I'll text you the address, we will need two Ubers." Kouga still hung on Sesshomaru, trying to keep his balance as he texted Ahmed and summoned an Uber. Three minutes out. Sesshomaru gazed back at the ice, Nao and his teammates were still celebrating their victory.

"Alright I am so in. Those ladies don't know what they're missing." Ujab laughed and Jaken and Ahmed both rolled their eyes.

Sesshomaru, distracted, still had his eyes on the ice. Nao had his own party to go to, and it wasn't Miroku's smaller, less popular frat party. Nao wouldn't want him to attend the one he was going to, he just wanted fans in the stands. Besides, the Vicodin long wore off and he wasn't sure if he could deal with being at a huge, grandstanding frat spread. 'Team Top Gun' could easily wait, if Nao even wanted to revive it again.

"Ready Sho?" Kouga looked in his eyes, and damn his eyes were pretty. Sesshomaru smirked, yeah he was. Kouga, arm still looped around his shoulder, swung his flask in the air like he led a parade out of the ice rink.

Sesshomaru avoided looking back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate any and all feedback :)
> 
> -TL


	3. You Give Trust a Bad Name

**You Give Trust a Bad Name**

**)*(**

"Hey where did you end up after the game last night?" Nao asked as Sesshomaru brushed his hair out. Huh? Since when did he care? Oh, the bender. Riiiight. Probably still playing mom. Sesshomaru turned, seeing Nao leaning against the doorway

"I didn't drop any ecstasy, officer." Sesshomaru responded placidly. Nao huffed. Eyes narrowing. Oh, did he actually want to know?

"I saw you leave with King, Jaken, and Double Trouble." Sesshomaru paused in brushing his hair, he knew Ahmed's and Ujad's nickname? And why did he call Kouga by his last name now, but his first name not a few days ago? Sesshomaru didn't have time.

He was going to be late for his pregame warm up. He already had his black and gold uniform on, his cleats and his shin guards he would put on later, most likely Kouga would help him with the damned cleats. He learned a long time ago how to tie his cleats and shoes one handed, but he needed them really tight.

Now, however, he needed the door jamb to put his hair up, the one Nao was currently leaning on.

"We went to Sigma Epsilon Chi, Miroku, our sweeper's, frat. Miroku is a terrible womanizer, but he knows how to get the girls. Ujab went home with a cute sorority bunny he met there. Jaken got to third in the bathroom, but she wasn't terribly pretty. Ahmed got sick all over the porch after he lost a game of Ride The Bus. Kouga and I took him to In and Out Burger and sobered him up." Sesshomaru reported without emotion and grabbed his hair tie, he hated wearing his hair up, but there was no way he could wear it down and play soccer. It was the only time he wore it up.

"And you? No pussy?" Nao pushed and Sesshomaru snorted. What was he, comparing nights to see how much better his was? He probably had an orgy with some Phi Phi Omega girls in a hot tub or something equally ostentatious.

"As if I'd tell you. Move I need the door jamb to put my hair up." Sesshomaru commanded at a slightly surprised Nao. Nao's dark, whiskey colored eyes lit up in a scheme.

"Let me. I'll even come to your game." Nao practically purred and Sesshomaru had no idea what to make of that. No one had helped him put up his hair since his mother. Was that something guys did? It did take him a while to perfect the Youtube tutorial showing him how to do it one handed.

Wait, he wanted to come to his game?

"Don't be stupid. I can do my own hair just fine. Besides you hate soccer. You'd just heckle me from the stands about how bored you are, or how there aren't any boards to smash people against." Sesshomaru exhaled, he didn't want to argue with his ripped roommate. He would be late; he couldn't afford to be late.

"Jakotsu braids Bankotsu's hair before each hockey game for luck, it's for luck. And I never said I hated soccer. I'd come to watch you slide tackle the flatfooted, slack-jawed defenseman smug enough to think they can stop you." Ugh, Nao, you don't actually try to tackle the player…whatever. Nao grabbed the hair tie from Sesshomaru's hand before he had the time to protest. Nao pushed him so he faced the bathroom mirror.

He hated his reflection.

He had always looked so feminine. Everyone from Brazil said he was a carbon copy of his mother. He had her high cheekbones, snow white skin, heart shaped face, delicate pointed jaw, her heavy, dark lashed eyes and her small, full lipped mouth. He even had her narrow, straight nose. The only thing he got of his father's was his amber brown eye color. Even his hair color was his mom's, and of course no he couldn't grow facial hair beyond peach fuzz. He also got her strong fingernails, not that he grew them out, even for coke.

Sesshomaru had, before the accident, weight lifted to try to bulk up and be more masculine. It worked to an extent but now it was too much work. He accepted the 'androgynous' look begrudgingly, it did get him a lot of a ttention from other guys so he couldn't complain too much, even some girls. Also, sometimes it was to his advantage when people underestimated him based on his appearance. Now, with his missing arm, even more so.

He also supposed he could cut his hair, but he loved it long, it was his trademark. Something that made him, him. Also his father loved it long, strangely enough. He admitted once he had worn his long too when he was a musician for the band called the 'West of these Lands', eons ago.

Nao's strong hands took to the back of his head, fingers splaying around his scalp. A scalp massage?

Sesshomaru tried not to lean into Nao's hands massaging his scalp. He secretly loved scalp massages. When he went to the salon to get his hair trimmed, he always paid extra for one.

He let his eyes close for a brief moment, the tension melting out of his shoulders that was common before a game. He just wanted to enjoy this, maybe one day he could net someone who would do this for him on the regular. Ha. Maybe. Rin did love to play with his hair…too bad he saw her as nothing more than a sister.

"You like this, don't you?" Nao huskily chuckled, voice like black licorice. He finally began to gather his hair up into a high, smooth ponytail. The brush of Nao's hands across his neck and his temples sent trickles of embers down his spine. Sesshomaru didn't allow people to touch him often, especially sober.

"…hmmm…" Sesshomaru's eyes shot open, remembering just who was putting his hair up, the tallest, strongest guy, enforcer on a Division I hockey team was playing with his hair. He wanted to joke about it, but it just didn't seem right since Nao meticulously began to place the perfect ponytail on his head.

"Do you speak Portuguese fluently?" What? Oh his tattoo.

"Do you smoke cigarettes?" Sesshomaru fired one back, remembering he never did figure out where the pack of Camels came from.

"Answer mine first." Nao said with a bit of conviction as he swept, twisted and finished the high ponytail on Sesshomaru's head. Sesshomaru looked at his reflection and instantly hated it. He looked like a girl. He scowled visibly and stood up.

"Eu posso falar Portuges." Sesshomaru responded tersely, of course he spoke Portuguese. He lived in Brazil for thirteen years of his life; he went to a Portuguese speaking school. Pursing his lips, he grabbed his duffel bag to leave. He had completely forgotten Nao said he wanted to go to the game with him. Stupid blond ponytail. Stupid bangs. Stupid.

"That's cool. I smoke only when I'm stressed, which isn't often." Nao responded, eyebrows furrowing, watching Sesshomaru put one thing, by one thing, into his bag quickly.

"What got into you? What you wanted a French twist or a sock bun thing or something else, Ice Princess?" Sesshomaru stiffened. So he was back to princess again? So he noticed how stupid he looked too. Damn.

"No." Sesshomaru growled out. He should just shave all his hair off.

"Then what the fuck is up your ass?" Nao asked, shading him as he pressed down on the duffel bag with his foot, and bent over to zip up the rest of it. He flung the strap, cross body, around him, avoiding his ponytail.

"It's nothing…" Sesshomaru knew the ever persistent 'I get what I want' Nao Kumo was not going to stop at that. "I think I'm just gonna cut off my hair. Donate it to a charity. It's stupid; even you think so, the princess bit." Sesshomaru tried to sound as stoic as he could as Nao got the door for him, gentleman nonsense probably.

"Bald, gross, probably sticky children do not deserve your hair. Your hair is what renaissance painters creamed their togas over. Don't you dare cut it. Team Fierce Flow solidarity. The princess bit is because you get sulky and calling you princess usually pisses you off enough to snap you out of it." Nao admitted, and Sesshomaru knew that Nao knew people in the renaissance did not wear togas.

He also wanted to point out that most of those 'bald, gross sticky children' had alopecia or were cancer survivors. Nao said the most dark, and bizarre shit. He also wasn't going to fall for the trap that was the princess bit. He could not let on that Nao knew how to bait him.

But he absolutely did not sulk.

"I don't sulk." Sesshomaru cut out and Nao shoved him lightly again, leaving their building.

"You can claim you can shape-shift or fly as long as we remain Team Fierce Flow." Sesshomaru shoved Nao back with equal force. Now he was just being a creep on purpose. Shape shifting? What? They made their way to the field, luckily he was far from the last player there.

"The game doesn't start for another thirty minutes." Sesshomaru prompted and Nao just took out his phone, wiggling it.

"You can count on me to always find ways to amuse, or please myself." Nao winked and Sesshomaru grimaced, tossing his long pony tail, heading towards his team. He spotted Kouga and Miroku talking, stretching lightly.

"Dude, I'm telling you, the coach's daughter, Sango, is a total babe and super fun. She does the announcing for the hockey games, come out with us to the next one, the forbidden fruit is the most delicious…hey Sho convince Miroku he should try to get with Sango Taijya." Kouga had a mercilessly troublesome look on his face and Miroku didn't seem convinced. Which was good, because it was a terrible idea. He let Kouga help him with his cleats, reluctantly.

"Don't even consider it Miroku. And Kouga, focus on your own needs, weren't you all over Ayame at the frat the other night?" Sesshomaru attempted to derail the conversation as he began to warm up.

"I got a thing for blonds, not redheads. She was alright though; she was more over me than I was over her." Kouga admitted. Sesshomaru didn't notice the up and down Kouga gave him as he jogged in place.

"I'll go with you to one of the hockey games, there are bound to be other babes there if Sango ends up being a dud." Miroku agreed and they watched the opposing team file onto the field, wearing blue and white.

They were supposed to be a real challenge. Sesshomaru didn't feel intimidated though, he had been practicing his capoeira and his footwork tirelessly the past few days. He actually succumbed to the feeling of frustration in the game he sat out. They won, but by smaller margin than they should have.

He should have been on the field, Nao was right. He couldn't let Izayoi get in his head. She would love nothing more than to see her druggie stepson self-destruct his life to give him more reason to not have his inheritance.

"They're undefeated. Their keeper is supposedly being vetted for some minor Euro leagues." Kouga informed, getting up. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes, the keeper didn't look that great. His vertical wasn't that impressive from what he could see. He could easily misdirect his shots. He would have to aim for the upper right 90s.

"I like a challenge. It's about time they gave us some team worth our time." Sesshomaru wind milled his arm and turned towards the stands, expecting to see a few people scattered about. Soccer, especially at one in the afternoon on a Sunday, when most people were still hungover, didn't attract a whole lot of fans. He didn't mind it.

Today, by total contrast, was a mosh-pit. It looked like the entire damn dorm and three frats and couple sororities showed up. The bleachers were packed and people sat on the ground and stood all around. What? When had that happened? Sesshomaru spotted the culprit: the tall, curly haired man, decked out in his black Slayer T-shirt. Nao waved and Sesshomaru dropped his jaw.

Nao called in the cavalry.

'Welcome to the jungle we got fun and games. We got everything you want honey; we know the names. We are the people that can find whatever you may need.' Someone had a huge battered boombox playing 'Welcome to the Jungle' by Guns and Roses.

"Holy crap. Well, we better win, looks like someone told the athletic dorm and most of the frats there'd be free beer here or something for a turnout this big." Kouga stood up in shock. They never had a turn out like this before, not even for their homecoming game.

"It's Nao. He did this." Sesshomaru half groaned, half sighed. He secretly anticipated his fellow athletes getting to see him do something he actually loved doing, and was phenomenal at.

"Man, we should get him to come to more of our games. He could have threatened or intimidated those people into coming, I don't care. I see a lot of hotties up there." Miroku whistled, and then the real whistle for the coin toss came.

Sesshomaru wasn't the captain, Miroku the sophomore was. He rushed up to do the coin toss. He lost. Of course. But the kick off didn't matter. Sesshomaru took his position on the field, sizing up the competition. He knew his footwork was better, and he was quicker than most likely all of their defenders.

The problem was their own defense, and their midfield. Their midfield didn't spend enough time practicing clean touches on the ball. They couldn't afford to make dumb mistakes here.

"SWARM HORNETS SWARM. THIS IS OUR NEST." Sesshomaru definitely heard the crowd. It actually gave him a bit of an adrenaline rush. Yeah, he could use the energy boost, He glanced across the field to Kouga who gave him a thumbs-up. Oh, he was going to crush these backward hacks.

The kick off, the start. Sesshomaru reveled in it. Let the games begin.

The first half of the game went predictably enough. Their defense, aside from Miroku who managed to clear a few balls to Kouga, had squandered away some good opportunities. However, the opponent's offense didn't capitalize on them nearly as well as they should have.

Sesshomaru literally dribbled circles around one of their midfielders on a break-away. His ball control was rivaled only by Kouga's and maybe the opponent's right defender, who had a gross beard. He wasn't bad, but what he had in ball control he lacked in speed.

He and Kouga kept the defense on their toes whenever the ball was on their side. He managed to perfectly slide tackle the ball from their beer gutted stopper once. He crossed beautifully to Kouga who controlled the pass nimbly only to was called offside. Damn. It had to have been by a hair.

Sesshomaru had a few good shots on goal, including a good corner kick from Kouga when he leapt into the air, a good head above the unconditioned sweeper next to him, and headed the ball. The keeper barely got a hand out in time, to swat it down and trap it. Oh well, always next time. They also had kick off next half.

"That dude with the one arm is pretty good. I don't know how he can run that fast." He heard one of the players say at one point to his teammate during a throw in. The opposing team wasn't a big bag of dicks, which was refreshing. They actually seemed pretty sportsmanlike, though that didn't mean anything come second half. Morale and attitudes can change easily.

During half time, listening to his coach thrash the midfielders over their lack of concentration, he felt eyes on him. He looked around and Nao was staring at him, arms crossed, smirking like something crazy good just happened. He didn't know what he could be so excited about, the game was tied 0-0.

Then, the song 'Never Break Me' by Brennan Heart creaked through the boombox and Sesshomaru's eyebrows hit his hairline.

'You can call me names to bring me down some more, but you will never break me.'

The song's quick beat turned the crowd up. How had Nao known he liked hardstyle EDM? Or that he liked Brennan Heart? Did Jaken tell him or something?

"Taisho, King, keep the pressure up. Get in there and keep throwing them off balance. It just takes one good kick. King, watch out for a possible double team, Taisho, be careful on your tackles, that one ref will call you if you breathe on someone wrong. Got it?" Sesshomaru turned his head towards his coach. He understood, he was a superb tackler, the capoeira made sure of that, but that didn't mean some blind ref wouldn't make a shit call.

The kick off began, and Kouga touched the ball to Sesshomaru. Oh they were going to give their fans something to cheer about. He could feel it. He blazed past their midfield and launched the ball wide out to Kouga and with a chest trap he was on his way downfield. Sesshomaru sprinted to get into position, the opposing team was thrown off from halftime. Now was the time to strike.

Kouga read his thoughts like a telepath. Kouga, on a hunch, swept out wide and passed a defender like he was standing still. With a swift kick the ball flew through the air towards Sesshomaru.

They had done this in scrimmages before, and in practice for fun, but never in a game. Now was the time he shoved their balls down their opponent's throats. Yes, he meant that innuendo. He was at the top of the box, there was no way their keeper was going to see this coming.

Kouga placed the ball perfectly, their keeper was too far out of position to prevent this.

Sesshomaru knew he was right next to that defender with the beard, but he knew he didn't see what was about to happen coming. He twisted his back to the goal right as the ball came overhead. He hopped up with his left leg and in mid-air arced his back into a rainbowed backbend. With a graceful, swooping kick of his right leg, he fully extended it far over his head and connected with the ball right on his laces.

Victory.

Sesshomaru knew before he even hit the grass that he scored. He watched, upside down, as the ball soared well over the keeper's head, dead center into the goal. He finally got to show off his bicycle kick.

Kneel before the Lord of Bicycle kicks: American born, Brazillian bred.

He hit the grass, breaking the fall with his arm and immediately stood. The whistles, the cheers, and the screams filled his ears. Lightning sparked through his veins, fuck drugs, this high was so much better.

Kouga tackled him. He didn't realize he was smiling so hard until he and Kouga looked at each other and, of course, in unison shouted.

"GOOOAAAAALLLAAZZZZOOOO!" Kouga yelled and Sesshomaru smirked. That's how you start a half, by just eviscerating the other team. Bow before your Lord Sesshomaru. He ran towards the center of the field ponytail streaming behind him, Miroku did a handspring in the back field. Maybe he should be their keeper…no his hands are only good for touching tits, not balls.

"That was so fucking sick man, their keeper looks like he wants to cry." Kouga laughed. Sesshomaru slapped him on the back.

"It wouldn't have happened if you didn't give me the perfect cross. We will have to set one up were you can try one at some point." Sesshomaru finally had the guts to look at their fans. They had popcorned all over the bleachers in excitement. He secretly hoped someone had gotten it on video besides their coach. He wanted to send it to his mother, maybe she was coherent enough to watch it.

"Nah man, I don't do that shit, I'm a simple man. You looked like a natural." Kouga admitted and he found himself searching the bleachers for Nao.

He didn't have to look far because Nao was jumping like an asshole and pointing at him like he won the World Cup, Jakotsu was laughing his damn ass off. Nao was embarrassing himself jumping like a little girl, but he didn't appear to care.

"THIS IS OUR NEST, THIS IS OUR NEST. BOW DOWN TO THE SWARM. BOW DOWN TO THE SWARM." It was then Sesshomaru spotted Ahmed, Ujad, Kagura and Rin standing next to Nao and the other hockey players. They rarely showed up to his games, he knew they didn't like soccer but obviously Nao had somehow found their Instagram handles or something because here they were.

'Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor.' He heard 'Bodies' by Drowning Pool, it sounded like someone seriously burned a CD. Was this now 2006?

"They're acting like we've won the game; the second half has just started." Sesshomaru got back into position for the opponents' kick off. They did not look happy; he didn't expect they would but bet that his display of athleticism had truly pissed off some of their players. No one likes a show off, unless that person is on their team of course.

Sesshomaru had to tread carefully.

The rest of the second half was brutal. The opposing team came swinging out the gate and overwhelmed their defense. Even Miroku panicked a few times, trying to get everyone in alignment, breathing heavy.

It wasn't surprising when on a corner kick, they managed to tie the game up with four minutes to go. Sesshomaru bit his lip, there wasn't a whole lot he could do. He was their forward, there was only so much on defense he could help out with, without compromising their whole positioning. Kouga, equally frustrated, kicked the grass.

"Kouga, keep your cool, if the rest of the players see you get out of sorts they're gonna lose heart. We don't want this to go to overtime." Sesshomaru surveyed their team, they were too exhausted to play in overtime, and their opponents had the momentum. Sesshomaru looked around, he had to figure something out.

He had to play dirty, sort of. He was more stealthy than dirty. Nao was the dirty one. And then he thought of it. He had to draw a foul.

"Kouga, listen, same as last kick off, only send the ball ahead of me this time. I got an idea." Sesshomaru knew the defender he burned on the last bicycle kick itched to get him back for it. If he could get the idiot to try to tackle him in the box, well that would be a direct free penalty kick for him.

Nothing he liked better.

"…you're gonna draw a foul." Kouga caught on quick and Sesshomaru's mouth split into a menacing smirk. They were going to win this game, none of this tie bullshit.

"I can bait him to do it, trust me." Sesshomaru nodded and the kickoff began, Kouga flew down the field like he was Hermes himself. They tried to double team Kouga, but it simply didn't work. Kouga could be on track and field if he wanted to be, there was no slowing him down. Sesshomaru kicked the ball far down field, knowing by the time it bounced once Kouga would have possession.

Sesshomaru picked up his pace, full sprint. He had to get into the box; he had to get set up. He had to time this well, and make sure that one defender with the terrible beard marked him. He spotted him down field. Oh yes. He would definitely mark him, the hipster bearded defender thought he would try for the bicycle kick again.

He monitored Kouga as he flung his leg out and the ball soared to the center of the field in just the precise spot he needed it. Graças a Deus, thank god, for Kouga King. Sesshomaru trapped it, feinting a bobble and he knew the defender, wounded pride still fresh, couldn't resist the tackle. Sesshomaru, slower than normal, set up his path of attack and sure enough the defender went for the tackle.

He just didn't expect another oaf of a defender to be doing the same thing, at the same time.

So, while prepared for one to tackle him he didn't expect to be knocked into from the left side as well. What a clumsy simpleton! He couldn't really catch himself correctly with one arm, and then the other defender came, luckily, or mercifully he changed his approach because he tried to hop out of the way. But it was too late. Damage done. He got slung into the second defender by the first, left ankle trapped under the first defender.

Damn if his ankle didn't hurt. hopefully it was just a bad twist or something.

He spun and hit the ground on his back hard. Landing mostly on his left back, the wind knocked out of him momentarily. There was a cloud in the sky that looked like a dog. Ugh, maybe the whole draw a foul thing wasn't his smartest idea. He heard the whistles and his left ankle throbbed a bit. He didn't think it was anything too serious, but if it was, crutches were going to be such a colossal puta.

"Shit Sho! You never do things half assed, are you ok?" Kouga came into his line of vision and he managed to rock himself up, the one defender with the beard was given a yellow card, the other a red card. Whatever.

Sesshomaru stood, his left ankle definitely felt tender but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. His coach was on the field, he had already thrown his clipboard on the grass and flung some cups around. The refs were trying to calm him down as he approached Sesshomaru.

"You're hurt aren't you?" Coach Taijya pointed to his left ankle. Sesshomaru shrugged; it didn't matter.

"My left ankle will need to be iced, but I can finish out the kick at least." Sesshomaru admitted, his coach eyed him, the medic stood ready, but suspicious. Sesshomaru sighed, it wasn't that serious, but yeah he probably did need to wrap it.

He watched his coach leave back towards the bench and he spotted Nao being held back by Bankotsu and Renkotsu. Nao being pissed was an understatement, he looked positively incendiary.

He was threatening to set their bus on fire, rip off their heads drink their blood and shit their own blood down their throats. He could hear his baritone voice from the field. He had original threats that was for sure, but he needed to calm down.

He started to taunt the other team's entire second string to a fight. Nao was going to get kicked out of the game soon, Sesshomaru could feel it. Nao needed anger management.

The ball was placed on the hatch mark and he limped up to position. He had to do this carefully. Then he had a stupid idea. A really stupid idea.

He couldn't plant his left leg, so the keeper would think in order to compensate for speed, he was going to kick it hard and straight. He was going to fake him out. He was going to bend kick it with his left leg. He could do it; his ankle wasn't that bad off. This was one kick.

He approached normally and at the last second added in a devastating misdirection. A half step, plant the right foot, swing out with the left. He could tell in the keeper's stance he was going to go high left.

Not today.

Sesshomaru connected with the ball with a bend shot and he winced. Ok, so, maybe his ankle wasn't great, he didn't hit the ball on the side as well as he expected. Maybe this was a terrible idea.

The ball went high right as the keeper jumped high left. It was just a matter if he missed the goal. It was his non-dominant foot after all. He watched intently, the split second seemed to go on forever, he couldn't let his teammates down, he couldn't make an ass of himself in front of Nao. He couldn't disappoint him. He just had to prove to Nao he wasn't some coke-head fuckup.

The ball hit the upper crossbar, and just like Zidane's kick in the 2006 World Cup against Italy, ricocheted into the goal, bouncing out. But it didn't matter. It went in first. He looked at the ref and he knew he saw it. He punched his fist in the air in victory.

Suck it. He would lose one day, but not today.

"Did you see that dad?! Hell yes! Demorou!" Sesshomaru shouted the Portuguese into the sky as the ref called goal and the rest of his team around him exploded. Probably literally exploded. Someone started banging on a trashcan…did someone actually find a blasted vuvuzela?

"Taisho! Taisho!" Were they chanting his name? Since when did people like him enough to do that? Damn this was sort of awkward, this wasn't even a playoff game.

"You're a fucking madman!" Kouga rushed up to him. There was still like three minutes left of play, but Sesshomaru didn't care, he just had to get off the field so they could put someone else in. He hopped around a bit awkwardly, turning to the crowd and damned if Kagura didn't have a damned vuvuzela.

"I never suggested otherwise." Sesshomaru smirked. their keeper was pacing off the defeat.

The medic and Kouga helped him off the field, the medic diagnosed his as a grade one inversion sprain. He was lucky it wasn't a high ankle sprain. He would just have to keep off of it for a week or so, probably. The medic didn't seem that concerned as she was wrapping it on the bleachers and iced it, but she did get a crutch for him from the fieldhouse.

Damn. At least it's his left side. Backpack it is.

The game started back up, but the opposing team's fire had been extinguished, they looked exhausted and even though his team was as well, all they had to do was make sure no one screwed up. They didn't, to Sesshomaru's delight. With a field spanning clear from Miroku, the game ended uneventfully.

'Yeah, Uh huh, you know what it is, Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow.' Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, that stupid song again, but those were their colors.

"START YOUR BUS. START YOUR BUS." He heard their fans yell. At least they were keeping it classy. He managed to stand with his stupid one crutch, he couldn't really slap everyone's hand and hold his crutch, so he just stood there. He gave the two defenders a menacing glare he knew could freeze the blood in their veins. They reacted like it too, cowards.

To Sesshomaru's complete astonishment, Nao had not been kicked out of the game. He discovered this because their fans rushed the field and he, Bankotsu, and Ahmed fucking picked him up like he was some sort of rockstar. He was sweaty and gross, he needed a shower, not some attention getting display like this. He normally hated stuff like this…

Where they drunk? Since when did Bankotsu like him?

"Put me down, Nao what in the?" Sesshomaru, twisted his neck down over his left shoulder, Nao basically had him up on his own shoulder. He saw the top of his head, his ebony curly hair gleamed in the sun with his RayBan Wayferers.

"Don't worry, we totally got revenge on the other team. Ahmed and Ujab allegedly drained the Freon from the air conditioner on the bus. Also Ginkotsu had two breakfast burritos and left over re-fried beans for brunch. Guess who just clogged their bus toilet with enough toxic waste to make Chernobyl look like a picnic?" OK, Nao, he didn't need that much of a description, but it did make him chuckle. Ahmed and Ujab were always trouble.

"Ginkotsu is not allowed in our bathroom for any reason." Sesshomaru reinforced and Nao gave him a thumbs up, flashing a wide smile, nodding in agreement.

"You never told me soccer was so exciting!" Bankotsu exclaimed, well, since when had he ever talked to Bankotsu?

"Moron, only like the entire world likes soccer. You never told me your footwork was so clean, and your like flip kick thing at the beginning of the second half was sick." Ahmed exclaimed, holding his feet and this whole thing was kind of getting ridiculous.

"It's a bicycle kick. And he does capoeira so that probably is how he is coordinated enough to pull it off. You could tell during warm up his footwork was going to be the best on the field, did you see his outside and sole touches?" Nao supplied and Sesshomaru squirmed, since when did he know about bicycle kicks and sole touches?

"Alright, put me down, I am not some—" Sesshomaru cut himself off as Ahmed released his feet, Damn where did his crutch go, and his bag? Hopefully Jaken picked them up or something, he knew he saw his green hair somewhere.

"Lord? Princess? Soccer god?" Nao's eyes squinted in amusement as he flipped down his wayferers and handed him his crutch; Nao also had his bag. Sesshomaru didn't justify any of those names with an answer.

"Hey Sho! We are gonna all go to Sig Ep Chi tonight to party! Pregame at nine, bring your crew!" Kouga shouted from across the field, Miroku was walking with him. Sesshomaru nodded giving a thumbs up. He cut a gaze over to Ahmed who sighed. Ujab, Kagura, and Rin were also walking beside him.

"I won't spill my guts over their porch again I swear." Ahmed sighed, Ujab already had his phone out, probably trying to convince that sorority bunny to swing by again.

"Yo…Ahmed puked on their porch? No way I'm missing this shit show. I am so in." Kagura, wearing her usual black and red tube top, with her black booty shorts and high top converse chucks. She had on her usual makeup, her hair up with some feathers. She said she was going through a phase. It suited her.

"Oh yes! This should be so much fun, I'll bring my hoop, Sho you should bring your poi." Rin beamed a warm smile his way. Sesshomaru supposed he could. It had been a bit since he spun. He couldn't do that many tricks, with one arm, but it was still something to do. Maybe he could bring his fire poi….

"I'll get the Ubers tonight, I just got paid! It has to go somewhere!" Jaken piped up, he had forgotten Jaken just got a job at the local pet store. They mostly sold fish and stuff, he was really good at stuff like that, he had a damn big aquarium in his dorm room.

Shit. Was this when he invited Bankotsu and Nao? Would they even want to come? Miroku's frat wasn't exactly where the other athletes hung out, they didn't get crazy, most were sort of geeks and some even played video games competitively. Not exactly boss.

"You can swing by Sig Ep Chi before you hit up your scene, if you want." Sesshomaru offered lamely. He didn't expect a yes.

"Wouldn't miss it Iceman. Bank and Jak got plans tonight so it will probably just be me. We are going to wreck face in pong. Team Top Gun." Nao ribbed Bankotsu and he just shoved Nao. Ok…he didn't expect Nao to take him up on it. Nossa. Wow, thought Sesshomaru in Portuguese. Why did he feel excited about this? It wasn't like he and Nao never partied before. And if Nao thought it was lame, he did just say to swing by for his first stop. Nao shouldn't feel obligated to stay.

He secretly hoped he would though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Any feedback is much appreciated :)
> 
> -TL


	4. I Bicycle Kick

**I Bicycle Kick**

**)*(**

"You're wasted. I'm getting you back to the dorm." Sesshomaru had no idea how he was going to drag the 6'5", 195 pound Nao Kumo back to his dorm with a busted ankle, one arm, and drunk himself. It probably wasn't actually going to happen. Nao was precariously leaning on his right shoulder since Sesshomaru couldn't hold him up, and a crutch at the same time.

Ugh. At least he already summoned an Uber inside before Nao started leaning on his only arm.

It was times like these he really missed having his left arm and hand. He used to dream often that he had his arm again, only to wake up not having it. That jolting realization percolated an acidic bitterness that took over his chest and his attitude.

He started to drug himself to sleep to prevent the dreams, which sparked all sorts of dependencies which eventually landed him in rehab for the second time. He numbed his emotions, all of them. Those times where he dreamt he was normal and woke up a freak still haunted him. It was peculiar. He didn't consider any other amputees he had met as freaks. It was another reason he hated his reflection. He caught himself darting his eyes down from his stump, remembering his arm, his hand. He would remember when he could perform all his capoeira moves, when he could drive stick shift, when running was easier, hell when everything was easier.

Sometimes he even felt his old arm. A therapist said it was called phantom limb syndrome. She recommended that he try going to support groups but honestly, he'd rather not talk about it, or listen about it at all. Drugs silenced the noise. It was the silence, the solitude that he enjoyed, not the endless harping on a part of himself he couldn't change.

He always caught people staring at him, especially kids. They knew. They knew how incomplete he was, that he was never supposed to be this way. Most people either shunned him or pitied him, which was on them because they were ignorant and didn't matter.

He was smarter, worked harder, and was more talented than most people and he knew it. Yet...he caught himself in little moments of weakness where he wanted to be treated like he was before the accident. He wanted normal people to respect him, maybe to be intimidated by him, maybe even to lust after him.

Sesshomaru groaned audibly, he really must be drunk to think about this crap. He had fun at the party, why was he in such a funk now?

He shifted his weight a bit because Nao attempted to right himself and he swayed a bit. Oh. Yeah, Nao. Sesshomaru looked at the massive curly ponytail that tickled his cheek. It still smelled like coconut a little.

Nao…he never treated him differently, not even when they first met. At least not from what he could tell, and he usually picked up on it pretty quickly. Nao was different; Nao wasn't beneath him like most idiots he met…hmmm….Nao beneath him….Sesshomaru shoved the thought of Nao naked beneath him from his mind and focused on the faint bass thumping from the bad speakers in the house that he just left.

The party was a blast. He spun fire next to Rin who hooped for a while. Nao's bourbon colored eyes had studied him, clearly impressed and said Renkotsu dubbed 'the Pyro' would have loved it. Kagura had fun drawing silly but well-done characters of everyone and flirted with one of Miroku's friends, Hachi, getting his Snapchat.

Kagura ended up bringing one of her artist friends named Tsubaki. She was all sorts of moody, but lightened up around Ahmed's shameless antics. They got together and went home early.

Jaken talked to a cute, super short Asian girl with black and blonde hair named Kira, all night. She also, surprisingly had a thing for fish and had a coi fish tattoo. She kissed Jaken and gave him her number. Jaken smiled like he won the lottery. She apparently was also a good pole vaulter.

Ujab introduced his sorority bunny, named Shiori, to everyone and hooked up in the back of some dude named Hojo's car and they had to run from the party when Hojo found out.

He and Kouga had hung out most of the night, mostly to laugh at Miroku strike out, he was having a rare off-night. Kouga told him he should have told Sango to come. Nao looked like he had fun, but he also looked tense. He was probably just not used to this type of frat, he lost at video games a few times, but thankfully didn't rockstar a controller.

"Just a little bit wasted. We won at pong. And your friends got some." Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, Nao's speech was slurred. Yeah, they won the beer pong tournament, much of the dismay of Miroku and Kouga who had to streak the party as per their bet. Kouga had a couple crazy cool tribal tattoos, maybe they had meaning because he was part Cherokee? He'd ask him one day.

"You didn't let anyone forget it either. You kept yelling 'back-to-back pong world champions' and dared people to arm wrestle you for the title." Sesshomaru sighed through his nose, where was this Uber? He heard a noise behind him. Kouga.

"Hey, you're gonna need help getting him back, one wrong sway and you're both down for the count." Yes. Again, Graças a Deus for Kouga. Nao wasn't usually this way when he was drunk, maybe he mixed something wrong? Sesshomaru didn't even drop molly tonight, he just took a few Xanax, a Vicodin, and stuck mostly to vodka.

"You're a mind reader." Sesshomaru leaned heavily on his crutch as Kouga helped steady Nao much better than he could. Kouga looked good tonight, he had on a blue Kevin Garnett Minnesota Timberwolves jersey on that showed off his arms and brought out his eyes. He was definitely working out more, it showed on the field and off.

"No prob. You with us Naraku?" Kouga nudged Nao and he just looked up at them, glaring slightly. Nao was wearing his favorite red and black New Jersey Devils number four Scott Stevens Jersey. His curly hair was pulled back, Sesshomaru's own was down, how he liked it. Kouga took most of Nao's weight, holding him up with his left arm and Sesshomaru leaned his crutch against himself and shook out his arm, thankful to have most of the weight off.

He hoped Nao didn't get sick in the Uber.

"Why do you always wear white and red?" Nao asked, Sesshomaru just rolled his eyes. He liked white. His mother liked white; it was clean. Red went the best with white. It was like the rug in his old apartment in Rio. He had really liked that one red rug, it made the condo feel warm and regal with puffy white swede sofa.

He had to sell that condo when he came to America to help pay for his mother's care. Hopefully one day they'd be able to purchase something like that again.

"The Uber is here. Let's go slapshot." Sesshomaru urged a bit playfully. Luckily the Uber allowed the piss-drunk Nao in, probably only because he knew him.

They got back to the dorm without much fuss only because Kouga helped him. They got Nao into the handicap elevator because fuck crutches and stairs. He and Kouga even managed to get Nao onto his own bed. Nao immediately slumped over and passed out, all blood red jersey and coiling black curls.

That just left him and Kouga. Sesshomaru fought a yawn, he was beat and his head buzzed from alcohol. Kouga spun to face him, eyes lit, skin tan, shoulders broad. Kouga was just his height, and now more built. Though his face was softer than usual, his usual cocky grin wasn't sliced across his face.

"Thanks Kouga. I didn't want to text Renkotsu…. Apparently He's a bit of a pyro, Nao sai—" Sesshomaru was cut off by Kouga planting his lips on his. Kouga's hand was on his jaw, his other on the small of his back.

Oh.

Sesshomaru returned this kiss, because how could he not? Kouga was hot, they gelled, they worked together great, he had the most gorgeous green eyes, his hair was black just like Nao's.

Damn did he just compare him to Nao? Nao was never going to happen. Nao was straight. Nao could get anyone he wanted, not that Kouga couldn't either, he supposed. But Kouga wasn't passed out, chapado, like Nao was, and Kouga wanted him. Him.

Kouga pressed Sesshomaru up against a pilfered stop sign and Sesshomaru moaned into the kiss. His crutch fell, forgotten. His hand snaked around Kouga's neck and with a quick yank, pulled his hair out of his pony tail so his black hair fell free. Kouga leaned back, his green eyes locked on his amber ones.

"You're beautiful, Sho." Kouga breathed and kissed him again with more intensity. Sesshomaru's chest burned. What a thing to say, hopefully he meant beautiful in a non-womanly way. How long had it been since someone desired him like this? Since someone actually knew him and wanted him?

He had condoms in his bedside table, one in the bathroom. He showered before party, nothing like that was stopping him.

But…no he was going to fuck this all up. Did he want Kouga the same way? Did he? Fuck he thought too much. Kouga was probably the best he could hope for, but that was shitty to get with a guy thinking that. This wasn't going to be just a fuck and chuck, no. This was going to lead to something more if they slept together.

Kouga deserved someone who wanted him back the same way, and he just couldn't because he was pill-munching, basket-case and hung up on Nao. He had taken Kouga's hair out of his ponytail, but he still didn't look like Nao enough.

He was messed up. Really, really messed up.

He pulled back, lips swollen, eyes molten, ready to torpedo the whole thing. Kouga's hands were sliding down the waistband of his Levis. They had already pushed up his white 'Headhunterz' Hardstyle T-shirt. He wanted to be wanted so much, but he didn't want it from him.

"You and King." Damn. Nao wasn't passed out. He saw his red brown eyes burning from his bed in the slanted door light. Why did he feel the overwhelming need to apologize? Like this was forbidden, like he shouldn't be doing this in his own damn bedroom. He didn't apologize for anything.

What if Nao wasn't cool with having a gay roommate?

"Yeah, so what?" Kouga, confused turned to Nao, who swayed sitting up on his bed. He knew that tension in Nao's broad shoulders. It was his 'square up, fists up' stance. Why he wanted to, he had no idea. They weren't being that loud. The spell on their kiss had long since broken. Sesshomaru had to go into damage control.

"Kouga, I think…you should go…I'll talk you tomorrow after class." Sesshomaru's voice sounded wooden, He had no idea if this was the right call, he didn't want to kick Kouga out but he the vibes Nao was putting out made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"You sure Sho?" Kouga turned to him, green eyes burning and Sesshomaru's stomach twisted into a knot. No he wasn't sure! Duh! Sesshomaru managed to nod and Kouga kissed his temple and walked out of the dorm room without another word.

Suddenly a wave of anger rushed his system. Why did he have to go and self-sabotage everything?! Why couldn't he just like Kouga? Why couldn't he just give him a chance? Why did Nao have to infect his life? Nao, a guy who saw him a source of amusement more than anything. He stormed into their bathroom and locked the door before Nao could slur anymore of his words.

He popped the non-child safety top of his prescription bottle and took the last of his Vicodin washing them down with a swig of vodka from his flask. He slumped to the floor, arm across his knees in the fetal position. The Vicodin worked through his system beautifully. It was exactly what he needed. He would figure out this mess in the morning.

Right now he needed his fix, his synthetics.

*******

The next week crept by agonizingly.

Sesshomaru came clean to Kouga the next day, that yes, he was bisexual. He preferred guys, but unfortunately didn't see him that way. Kouga, thankfully, understood, the look in his eyes indicated he understood too well.

For the millionth time, Graças a Deus for Kouga. They had one awkward practice. Well practice for Kouga, he just sat on the bench like a jackass, but that was it. He was glad things were normal between Kouga and him. He couldn't deal with life right now if they weren't. He needed Kouga as friend, both on the field and off.

Maybe Kouga would give that Ayame girl a shot. She was at the Sig Ep Chi party on Sunday, looking fine. She and Rin were even the same major, and hung out at the party all night.

Nao, however, had been avoiding him. Nao didn't strike him as the homophobic type, though.

Maybe he was just blowing things out of proportion. They had term papers due this week and Nao and his teammates were practicing like crazy for their big-time rivalry away game in Anaheim against Hakurei University.

He was just busy; he didn't always have to give Sesshomaru the time of day.

Nao was due back sometime Saturday afternoon from Anaheim. Maybe he'd try to talk to him then about the whole Kouga thing. Even though there wasn't even a thing. Ugh this was stupid, terrible and awkward. He just wanted things back to where they were. Whatever.

Friday afternoon he heard a loud pounding on the door, usually conclusive of Ginkotsu, but he knew all of them were away for their game. He wasn't expecting anyone.

"Open up Sess." Oh foder: fuck. He knew that voice, and only one person called him Sess. Sesshomaru, still on his crutch, made his way to the door. He propped the crutch on the wall, then opened the door. He grabbed the crutch again.

"Hello Inuyasha." Sesshomaru's amber eyes went wide. Inuyasha had gone through a serious growth spurt the last he had seen him a year ago. After the accident he sublet his own place, ensuring it was mostly white and had red accents, and got out of the sprawling mansion. Inuyasha was now almost as tall as he was, and he had filled out. He had cut his long dirty blond hair though, he now sported an undercut like baseball players he saw on TV.

His hazel eyes cut into him like he wanted to murder him. He would have had to drive three hours to get here from Orange County, how he had his license back was a complete mystery to Sesshomaru. Inuyasha wore a red polo shirt and designer jeans, and had a tattoo on his arm of a tree that was partially hidden by the polo. He threw the door open with a crack to the cinder blocks with a strong push of his arm.

How did he even get in the dorm? What was he doing here?

"What. The. Actual. Fuck. Do you think you're doing?" Inuyasha demanded shoving Sesshomaru backwards. Sesshomaru, barely, managed to stay upright on his crutch. Sesshomaru was in no condition to fight Inuyasha if he decided to get physical. But he was more confused than anything. Why was Inuyasha even here? Didn't Izayoi demand no contact?

"Writing." Sesshomaru admitted, looking at his Business Management textbook and laptop on the coffee table.

"The fuck you are! You're trying to ruin our lives! We settled this you spoiled fuck. In. Court. How dare you motion for another appeal with Kaguya Nightshrine as your lawyer? How the fuck can you afford her?" Inuyasha threw a bunch of papers his way and kicked his trashcan to the other side of the room, spilling its contents everywhere. Sesshomaru hated messes, it just reminded him of that last terrible year in Rio.

Rio. His dad. The appeal.

Nao. Nao had sent that to Izayoi without telling him first?

And Kaguya Nightshrine? That was the estate lawyer he talked about? She was famous in America, and was much more talented than Myoga and Totosai. She was big leagues; she was the Olympics of Estate Law. She was doing pro-bono for him? Just who was Nao's father to pull strings like that?

"I have every right to appeal, if you think the ruling you received is just, then you have nothing to worry about in the appeal." Sesshomaru countered stoically. He and Inuyasha never really had a chance to be close. He still considered his half-brother family, but they were always more rivals than anything. Inuyasha was only two years younger than he. They were constantly competing growing up when he went back to America on breaks and the year he lived with them.

They were close when they were young, but by the time Inuyasha turned eleven it all nosedived.

Inuyasha was an athlete, and a good one. He played lacrosse and American football, though not real futbol. Inuyasha, quarterback of course, could do no wrong. His trophies always littered his father's mansion and his father would gush about him like Old Faithful. His father did sort of attempt to understand soccer or his capoeira, but it felt forced.

Sesshomaru didn't keep or send him trophies. He wasn't one for that sort of thing. Glory and that sort of thing didn't matter to Sesshomaru. Being the best only mattered to him, or so he told himself. His father would email him often, only talking about what he was up to, or Inuyasha. Sesshomaru didn't mind at first but it grew tiresome, like he was just some unneeded link in a chain, something completely disposable if it got to be too complicated.

Which it did. Which is why he stopped going back to America the summer Inuyasha turned eleven, when he was thirteen. It was a wonder he didn't have a Brazillian Portuguese accent to his English, he had his mother to thank for that.

"Oh. I'm not worried, I am fucking pissed!" Inuyasha, this time, pushed Sesshomaru back, hard, he managed to fall to the floor and not on the coffee table. Coward! Pushing him when he obviously couldn't balance. Damn, he wished Nao was here. But no, he didn't need protecting. He could take care of himself, he had been for years. Forever.

Inuyasha showed him another set of papers. They were photos and logs. Kanna Glass' letterhead was embossed the top of them.

"You really think you can shame my mom? I don't care if she did cheat on our dad with that Takemaru guy; I don't even care if she did embezzle from the company. Your Nazi mom, Kimi, is the real fuck up. Last I heard she is still strung out on heroin or in some mental hospital in Rio. Oh, and if you ever try to show Kagome these photos of me with her sister Kikyo I will kill you. Kagome is due in couple months and she doesn't need this crap from you." Inuyasha shouted, throwing the floor lamp across the room, breaking it. They were getting loud now. Inuyasha threw the papers and photos across the common room.

Sesshomaru saw white. White hot rage. What had he said about his mom? She had tried her best. She really fucking had. Sesshomaru flipped to his feet with a practiced ease, favoring his right ankle. Inuyasha wasn't getting out of this room unscathed.

"I don't care what your shovel-handed, gold digger of a mother did behind our father's back. I don't even care if you are fucking your fiancee's sister in the pool. I do, care, what you say about my mother. She is recovering fine! I'll bury you." Sesshomaru shouted back, his deep voice echoing down the hall of their dorm. He didn't even notice he stole Nao's insult. He grabbed his crutch. He would find a way to beat the merda out of his brother one way or another.

"So you're going to bury me just like your buried our father!? You killed him you cold bastard. You know it's true, otherwise you wouldn't have become a damn cokehead slut! I wish it was you who went through the windshield instead of him. You took my father from me!" In an instant the rage left Sesshomaru. Inuyasha was right. Inuyasha jacked back and struck him with a right cross. He blocked it, sort of. It glanced off his arm and hit his jaw with a slightly hindered impact. Inuyasha had gotten strong, that punch stung.

He didn't need Nao to be here, but damn did he want him here. Well, maybe not. He didn't want Nao to see him get his ass-handed to him by his little brother.

Sesshomaru hit the floor, hard, again, but he knew he could win this fight on the ground. He flipped up on his arm, back up to the ceiling and quickly performed a Tesoura take down, where he took advantage of Inuyasha's lack of balance and scissored him around his thighs with his legs. Inuyasha hit his head on the wall on the way down. Good.

He submitted Inuyasha into a quick leglock and he heard him curse, scratch and yell. Sesshomaru was thankful he was wearing jeans.

Of all people, Sango Taijya came up, looking all sorts of shocked.

"Get security to get this mutt out of here!" Sesshomaru gritted out and she ran to get security. They came up not too much later, escorting Inuyasha out. They took a statement from him, Inuyasha, and Sango in the lobby. Super, now Sango knew his whole sad little tale.

"Sesshomaru, are you going to be ok? Are you hurt? I'm going to tell my father you won't be at practice tomorrow." Sango sounded really concerned, but he didn't know her, and she didn't know him. It all was too much explain.

"Thanks, yeah I'm gonna need a day or two." Sesshomaru pursed his lips, admitting defeat in needing a day to clear his head. Inuyasha had bribed his way into the dorm, and was armed with a dagger which luckily he had prevented him from getting to. Sesshomaru refused to press charges, he would have to get a restraining order though. He could do that later.

He was going to get fucked up. So astonishingly, spectacularly numb.

After he iced his ankle, popped the last of his Xanax, and splashed some water on his face, he looked in the mirror.

Yup, still hated his reflection. He even now had a really stupid bruise and swollen jaw. Lopsided for the win.

Just because he won the fight didn't mean Inuyasha wasn't right. He was a murderer. He did kill their father. He exactly what Inuyasha told him he was, a strung-out, cokehead slut.

He should have just stayed in Rio; his father would still be alive if he had. He'd be a star Capeoira fighter, way better at soccer, everyone would be happy. Everyone would be better off. But no, he just couldn't hack waking up and taking care of his mother, passed out with another tourniquet on the floor, with a few of her other girlfriends, filthy and foaming in what used to be their perfectly pristine apartment with the plush, red high-pile carpet and white suede sofa.

Everyone would be a lot better off if he just lit out back to Rio. Nao hated him. He led Kouga on, Jaken, Ahmed and Ujab didn't need him. Rin had Ayame, and Kagura had Tsubaki. Fuck, he should just let Inuyasha and his fugly mother tank their sound system company. Whatever.

Sesshomaru found the keys to his Infiniti, and found Magastuhi's snapchat again. He took a picture of his empty pill bottle and sent a snap with the caption. 'Let's set up a meet'. Magastuhi sounded really amped. Like, a lot more amped than he expected.

He told him to meet him at the headshop again. Great.

Sesshomaru hobbled out the dorm on his crutch, he had taken out all his credit cards out of his wallet, he only had cash. He didn't need his cards getting stolen and maxed out. He was thankful that Inuyasha hadn't keyed his Infiniti or trashed it. He probably forgot what the car looked like. He cranked the ignition.

Oh yeah, this was going to be a weekend to forget. He took out his driver's license out of his wallet, along with his phone and threw them one at a time to the floorboard of his arctic white Infiniti Q60. Anonymity needed to be kept, and who really wanted to talk to him anyway?

He tossed the crutch in the cramped back seat and reversed out with a squeal.

He ran another red light as he blasted one of his favorite hardstyle songs: Wasted Penguinz Melancholia.

_'It's time for me to run, run away from all of this. The pain inside of me is taking over everything. From time to time I feel lost inside this melody. It's like a fantasy, except it's called reality'_

*******

The next day and who knows how long into it, was a magnificent, jewel toned blur.

He had left the Infiniti at the same head shop where they picked up some glass since Hakudoshi always smashed his. He needed new pieces weekly. He even knew the owner, some chick named Yura. They were all in Magatsuhi's tricked out suburban, drinking bourbon that reminded him of Nao's eyes and swallowing whatever they could get their hands on. It was amazing.

He was wrong, however. Three of the guys in the suburban were actually people who were in the basement on the first bender he went on.

Byakuya seemed the most 'legal', Portuguese for cool, of them all. He was the guy who called the Uber for him, and he wasn't as scuzzy as he remembered. The other two that were in the basement were Kageromaru and Juromaru. Kageromaru was the one in the basement who knew where he had left his Infiniti. He gave him some weird vibes at times but everyone in the suburban was obliterated, so whatever.

Magatsuhi, however, was a different story. He was as tall as Nao and just as jacked. His dark eyes always seemed to be on Sesshomaru from the rear-view mirror. He had a freshly shaved head and three lip rings. Freak. He also had a tattoo of some chick on his arm. The creepiest thing about him was that he had the same spider tattoo on his right calf that Nao had. On his left calf, instead of four aces, he had the four kings.

That weirded Sesshomaru out a bit, but some 'meh' cocaine helped him forget why it probably mattered.

Hakudoshi was a few inches shorter than himself, and indeed was a bleach blonde. He didn't say much, but he did throw a knife from the passenger seat at Byakuya in the back when he said he had to stop to piss. It still stuck out the leather seat of the suburban and Magatsuhi just cackled with Kageromaru. If it had been his Infiniti he would have slugged Hakudoshi for ruining a good leather interior.

Sesshomaru, again, just needed another hit of molly to forget why that probably was an overreaction to throw a knife at someone for needing to use the bathroom.

This bender was just what he needed. These guys didn't give a fuck about him other than being an ATM, and he didn't give a foder, fuck, about them. He loved being a stranger, on the periphery watching everything move around him. He mostly just murmured with Byakuya in the back about if you could shape-shift into an animal, which one would you choose.

He chose cloud dog, because…Yeah.

Yet, it occurred to Sesshomaru, what was really going on after they dropped him and a too-stoned-to function Baykuya off at their house.

The other four returned much later shouting and jeering with a bunch of money and new Hennessey and high end cognac bottles. Magatsuhi recklessly threw a sawed off shotgun across the room, Hakudoshi laid a Beretta on the coffee table, safety on. They took off old Halloween masks and Seshomaru noticed Hakudoshi sported a bullet graze wound on his shoulder.

Shit. Nao was right.

Magatsuhi and Hakudoshi were total thugs; they just held up a liquor store. They probably thought they were some tough shit gang. The both of them with the other complete shitheads like Juromaru, Kageromaru, and the wack-job Byakuya made up this wanna-be gang. Sesshomaru grew up in Rio, he knew of real gangs, but the guns that Magasuhi and his boyband brandished were real enough.

He was just there to get high. And get high again they did. It turns out the guy he had sex with under the swingset was some tweaker named Goshinki. He apparently overdosed on a new designer drug called 'Tokijin' along with some bad heroin recently and died a few days ago.

Um. That information he could have really gone with not knowing. Apparently Kaijimbo, another creep who was in the basement, sold him the drugs. Being from the rich parts of Rio, he knew bad heroin could kill you easy, he'd seen its results with one of his mother's friends in their apartment. He couldn't help but feel for Goshinki, but the molly he was on made him feel too good to care for long.

Kageromaru took out a syringe, and a tourniquet and Sesshomaru knew what was going to happen next.

He told himself he would stay away from heroin, but did it really matter anymore?

Nah, he would just stick with his 'MCM Grand' for now, molly, cocaine and mescaline then maybe throw himself off a building. Oh. man. How much would Izayoi piss herself from the crash in the stock price of the company if he just jumped from Tessaiga Enterprises' corporate office floor? It had to be eleven floors up. Santo Deus, what a media circus that would be.

He saw it now: 'The Late Mr. Taisho's disappointment, pill-head, amputee son throws himself from their corporate office window. Later, the blood toxicology reports would show his blood was a petri dish of various hallucinogens, depressants and uppers! What a shame upon the Taisho name!' Sesshomaru snickered, then chuckled, then laughed to himself on the ratty sofa with Byakuya next to him, also laughing.

He had no idea where he was or what time it was. But it didn't matter because everything was hilarious and the sofa felt really soft and alive. It was perfect, he was riding the wave, he could feel all those pretty colors. He needed a line. He reached for the table, grabbing the credit card to sort himself a proper line, where did that dollar bill go?

Boom. Crack. The door splintered open, the frame bent completely backwards.

Oh foder, if it was a police raid he was so done. Sesshomaru whipped his long blond hair over his head in laughter and pointed at Byakuya when he dove to the floor in the 'arrest me' pose. If Sesshomaru was on 'Cops', he'd himself get a kick out seeing what people thought of an officer trying to handcuff a one armed, tripped out, pretty boy.

What a glorious, fabulous shit-heap this situation was, but he at least he could afford to post bail. He looked up at the door, sunlight streamed in and spun. His jaw dropped. It certainly wasn't the police.

It was Nao. How?…Santo Deus he looked so good.

Sesshomaru just stared at Nao like he was a god, he was still tripping after all. Things around him were still morphing, Nao's hair moved around like tentacles, like his tattoo on his arm. He smirked, it was a legal, cool, tattoo. Nao levelled Juromaru and he saw Bankotsu stride into the room, braid and all, knocking Kageromaru flat. Oh wow, nossa, Bankotsu could fight too. Byakuya just huddled as shaking ball on the floor.

He wondered if either of them ever took martial arts…Nao would be great at Karate, maybe Muay Thai. What were they even doing here? If they wanted some of his pills he could have brought some back.

Nao had Hakudoshi by the throat with one hand, and punched him with the other. Hakudoshi kicked Nao hard. But Nao, obviously possessed by some Demon, or possibly on PCP, just side kicked the shorter Hakudoshi into the other room like a cannon shot. Nao took out a knife, practically the size of a machete from somewhere. Did Nao have, like, a holster for that knife?

They were all yelling, but he wasn't really listening. It was too loud and he just really wanted to dance, or spin his poi. The music got turned off though. Lame.

He then saw Magatsuhi, all menacing fury, pick up his shotgun and point it at Nao and Bankotsu.

Caraca: what the…

This wasn't good. Nao and Bankotsu didn't have guns. Wait, Sesshomaru sort of did. Haha, it wasn't really his, but he was closest to one. Finders keepers? The Beretta, sitting under the chair, buzzed at him. The mescaline he took seven hours ago is still thrummed through his system.

He couldn't believe Nao brought a knife to a gun fight.

"Long time, no see Naraku. You're early. I told you to meet us at the new spider's web in a couple hours. It takes some brass balls to knock down my door after all you did, and ruin our fun. That puppy over on the sofa is pretty isn't he, Naraku?" Magatsuhi's malicious voice coiled out. Wait. Huh? Nao knew these guys? Wow, that explained a lot. Well, actually no it didn't.

Wait, did he just get called puppy?

God he just wanted another line …where did the blow go? Someone overturned the coffee table, the powder had sprinkled everywhere. So that's why the pistol was now under the chair, waving at him.

"Cut the shit Magatsuhi. You just picked up Sesshomaru because you wanted at me. You followed me out here, uprooting the gang, and now you have me. Put the gun down, let Bankotsu and Sesshomaru go. You got me." Nao replied, voice strained, hands up in surrender. Since when did Nao ever give up, or let anyone dictate the terms of anything? Sesshomaru straightened up on the sofa. No, this wasn't acceptable.

No. Nao was not going to stay here if Sesshomaru had to leave. They were leaving together, and somehow he was going to get Nao in the shower with him. Maybe he could get Nao really, chapado: twisted, and Nao could pretend he was a blonde chick. Even that shit-drinker Magatsuhi said he was pretty. He could deal with acting like a woman if it meant he could get Nao.

Just once, he wanted to feel Nao naked against him. Just. Once.

Well, maybe after kicking him in the head for sending that stuff to Izayoi without telling him anything about it first. That devious bastard! He pulled that nonsense after ignoring him all week, with no explanation?

He wondered if they won their away game…hmmm. Sesshomaru decided it was time to leave.

"Oh, none of you are leaving. This is revenge for what you did to Midoriko and betraying our family. You were our leader! You hung us out to dry, and now you'll pay for that. I'll shoot you first, but it won't kill you. You'll bleed out and watch as your puppy over there loses his other arm and then we'll scalp your braided hockey faggot there. Then I'll kill you slowly." Wow this Magatsuhi guy was absolutely unhinged. He was biruta: crazy. A washing machine full of cats crazy. Sesshomaru smirked, tilting his head at Magatsuhi and he saw Nao in his periphery shift in front of Bankotsu.

"Midoriko had what was coming to her, even you know that. I didn't betray anyone, I'm no snitch. Let them go and I won't carve you into little pieces and feed you to homeless." Damn Nao, that was fucked up. What did the homeless do to deserve that? They didn't really deserve to be cannibals. Wait. He was technically homeless now. He would not eat Magatsuhi though. Sesshomaru barked out a sharp laugh.

Sesshomaru just really wanted them both to shut up. They were all muito alto: too loud.

"She was the love of my life! You betrayed us! You ruined everything!" Magatsuhi screamed, bringing he shotgun up to eye level, finger curled on the trigger. Goddamnit Shut up, Magatsuhi! Why couldn't he be like Byakuya? He was just crawling on the floor, trying to do a line off the carpet minding his own damn business!

Magatsuhi's other soft-boiled friends were either hiding or they left. Maybe Nao and Bankotsu had knocked them all out. He could just kill Magatsuhi, he supposed. He was already a murderer right?

Sesshomaru looked under the chair, there was that Beretta, still smiling at him. There were a lot of those floating around Rio. Was he a good shot? Maybe not one handed. Only one way to find out though. He picked it up; the metal felt cool in his hand, and it weighed more than he thought it would.

He clicked the safety to unsafe and pointed it at Magatsuhi.

"Cale-se! Tu monte de merda." Sesshomaru slurred 'shut up! you heap of shit.' in Portuguese, mostly to himself. He honed his eyes into razor blades. His amber eyes speared Magatushi's dark ones as Sesshomaru squeezed the trigger back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know how you liked this chapter!!! :) constructive criticism is always appreciated! :)
> 
>  
> 
> -TL


	5. And You Play Your Game

_*there will be some sexually explicit content at the end of this chapter. So if you do not feel comfortable with that, you may want to skip it!_

**And You Play Your Game**

**)*(**

The kickback on the shot wasn't something he expected.

The gun bucked up and the deafening sound of the gunshot was also something he also didn't anticipate. Guns were so loud! Why would anyone want to own one? He just wanted quiet, or some hardstyle EDM…

And he had to go and make it so much louder! His ears rang. Foder!

Magatsuhi dropped the shotgun with a muffled thud, grabbing his shoulder. Oh nossa, wow, he was a really bad shot. He should definitely stick to Capoeira.

"GO!" That was Nao's voice. Sesshomaru didn't have time to register anything as Nao literally picked him up from the sofa, grabbing the Beretta putting it in the waistband of his jeans. Sesshomaru ran with Nao out of the house, he was sort of vaguely aware he shouldn't be running, but Nao was doing most of the work for him.

He saw Bankotsu's green Jeep Cherokee. Kouga was half Cherokee. Jakotsu was sitting in the driver's seat, engine running. Bankotsu, in a flashy action movie move, leapt and slid across the hood of the jeep to get to the passenger seat. Nao ripped open up the back driver's side door and flung Sesshomaru into the back seat, sliding down with him. Bankotsu's car was a mess, it has trash all in it, he needed to get it detailed.

The jeep jackrabbitted and bit into the asphalt. Jakotsu screamed about something and Bankotsu pointed to Sesshomaru and Jakotsu's jaw dropped.

"What was that?!" Nao yelled at him, hands shaking. Why was everyone still yelling? Sesshomaru blinked. Even Bankotsu was shouting at him like the apocalypse was happening.

"Which part?" Sesshomaru stoically asked, legitimately confused. A lot had just happened, right?

"Oh my fucking Satan. Jakotsu, take us to Goshinboku River we need to dump this gun." Nao demanded and Jakotsu oversteered around a right hand turn, the momentum shoving Sesshomaru into Nao's chest. Nao's heart was pounding so fast and so hard in his chest he could hear it. Hmm…he should have grabbed some Valium for Nao…

"You shot Magatsuhi! You could have killed him!" Nao ran an unsteady hand through his wavy bangs and he searched his pocket for his pack of Camels. "I warned you about Magatsuhi and you still went back to him!" Nao finally tapped out a cigarette with trembling hands. It took him a few clicks of the lighter to light it with his arm still around Sesshomaru. He hadn't remembered his arm being around him, but he was now pretty much in Nao's lap.

"It's not like I haven't killed anyone before…Inuyasha was right. Did you know that he is cheating on his fiancee with her older sister? How telenovela is that…Oh wait. No, you did know. You knew before me…" Sesshomaru paused, he was supposed to be mad at Nao for that. He couldn't muster the energy for it though, instead a grey wave of depression washed over him.

"Dammit, we are not getting into that right now." Nao took a long drag off his cigarette and Bankotsu snickered something to Jakotsu. Nao sent him a death glare.

"Whatever. You asked." Sesshomaru's logic faltered. Maybe that wasn't what Nao was talking about.

"What in the hell are you talking about? Did you kill someone in Brazil?!" Nao shook him and the lines in the car were still morphing, the mescaline was definitely still in his system. Everything had a hard black outline. He just wanted to disappear.

"I told you Nao. If I never came back from Rio, if I could have handled my mother better after her friend overdosed, everyone would have been better off. I wouldn't be a disabled, unbalanced, gutter-trash cokehead. My father would still be here; I ruined everything. Inuyasha was right, I killed him. It would have been so much easier if I went through the windshield too…stupid seatbelt laws. The libertarians are right." Sesshomaru eyes unfocused and he was now staring out the window, watching everything pass him by like streamers. The world was celebrating his self-destruction.

He didn't have anyone on his side.

"I've never heard a larger load horseshit in my entire life." Nao spat venomously.

Sesshomaru's stomach clenched. What did Nao mean by that? Could Nao…no he couldn't think that Nao actually thought good of him. Nao hated him…yeah Nao hated him.

"I guess your dickhead brother didn't tell you about what really happened in that wreck. Maybe his cottage cheese yeast infection of a mother never told him. Izayoi Taisho, the festering herpes outbreak she is, somehow buried it deep. Probably to stop the stocks of your father's company from free falling, or to save her public image." Sesshomaru still didn't focus on him. He monitored the moving hockey gear in the back. Bankotsu was almost out of tape…

"Kanna found the tox reports on your dad the night of the wreck. His BAC was more than twice the legal limit and he had cocaine in his system. He was also flying; accident forensics says he was going at least twenty-five over on the 405. You didn't kill your dad, your dad killed himself, almost taking you with him." Nao took his jaw and twisted it so Sesshomaru had no choice but to look him in his burning, frenzied bourbon colored eyes. Sesshomaru froze, his insides all vacuumed inwards like a black hole. Nao's eyes burned him, but he wasn't going to show it.

It wasn't fair he had to process this so messed up.

"You didn't kill anyone, even if your dad was sober. He took his eyes off the road, he hit his son over his own fucking issues. The wreck was his fucking fault. And you know if you had stayed in Rio you and your mother would be worse off. There is other stuff that Kanna Glass found we can talk about later. Just don't say shit like that again, like you're some bad guy, or a fuck up. You're nowhere fucking close." Nao's black licorice voice drilled passionately into him. Sesshomaru's breath hitched.

Nao actually thought he wasn't a fuck up?

Sesshomaru had heard those whispers, at his father's funeral, after his rehab stints, the court documents and character witnesses. Most people who got to know him, the real him, eventually thought he was a bad guy, or a fuck up, or both. It's why he hadn't told Rin, Jaken, Kagura, Ahmed or Ujab about his past.

He didn't know what Nao saw in him, but the pit of his chest warmed up and came to life like the rotary engine in his Rx-7. Someone thought he wasn't a waste of time, and that someone was the one person he wanted to like him. The one other person he had come to respect, to come to have raunchy dreams for. The drugs spun in his head and he felt his eyes tingle.

God he would not cry in the backseat of Bankotsu's gross jeep. They just started to like him. He. Would. Not. Cry.

"Oh." Sesshomaru's brain wasn't feeling particularly articulate at that moment. His stomach had tangled itself into nauseating knots. He would not cry nor get sick in Bankotsu's Jeep. In and out, Dentro e fora, dentro e fora.

This whole time Izayoi let everyone think it was the fight that killed his father. Sesshomaru didn't think Inuyasha knew what Nao just told him. Inuyasha had never been a very good liar. And Inuyasha's rage, though self-serving, was always real. Just why didn't he know his father was that drunk? Or tweaked on cocaine? Those are things he should have noticed…but he didn't kill him. He didn't murder his father! He was…innocent.

Sesshomaru smiled; for the first time in a really long time and rubbed his hand through his greasy bangs. Damn, maybe he could pull himself together, figure his life out. Nao's hand around him gripped him tighter, they were still looking at each other, right in their eyes. Sesshomaru was thankful he still tripping or this would be like, sappy telenovela crap. So not badass.

"You did almost kill Magatsuhi…the look on his face was priceless when you spouted that Portuguese. But if I ever see you do anything like that again I'll cut your hair off in your sleep. I'm the one who does the dirty work." Nao ghosted a smile and Sesshomaru scoffed, he hadn't even meant to do anyone's dirty work, Magatsuhi was muito alto and he wanted him to shut up.

"He was loud, and I wanted silence. You also brought a knife to a gun fight, you aren't that smart." Sesshomaru mentioned, Nao laughed richly, tossing his half spent cigarette out the cracked window. He liked that laugh.

"…did your spoiled rotten, limp dicked brother do that to you? I saw the mess he made of our place, I'll ruin his life for what he did." Nao looked at the bruise yellowing on Sesshomaru jaw, rubbing his thumb across it. Yeah. Santo Deus, Nao must have thought he lost the fight. Who allowed their little brother to get the drop on them like that?

"I can handle my brother. I didn't expect you to send Izayoi the blackmail for my estate case without even informing me. Thanks for that…. Is Sango how you found me?" Sesshomaru willed his mind to try to make sense of the past…however long time is, was. Wow, was that even a coherent sentence?

"Grapevine and luck. Sango was looking for Kira, the girl Jaken was hitting on, and heard you and decided to check out what was going on. She found Kira with Jaken and told them what happened. Jaken told your boyfriend, who texted me. And when you didn't respond to the ninety-two fucking missed calls and texts I sent you; I figured Magatsuhi had you. So I decided to go beat his face in and get you back. It took me this long because we our game, which we lost, was in fucking Anaheim." Nao put out a finger for each person and clenched his fist at the name Magatsuhi but Sesshomaru stopped listening beyond the word boyfriend.

"I don't have a boyfriend." Sesshomaru scrunched his face up confused, he realized Nao still had his arm around him in the back seat of the car like a stupid movie, but the way his strong arm held him in place just made too much sense, and the warmth that radiated from it centered him. He did hate the cold.

"I told you so Naraku! I have a sense for these things! You went off the handle in the locker room on Monday for nothing." Jakotsu sing-songed from the driver's seat and Bankotsu face palmed. Nao furrowed his heavy, dark eyebrows in frustration. "You know the school is going to fine you for those lockers you caved in." Jakotsu wagged his index finger back and forth knowingly.

"Yeah man, even I knew you didn't blow it. The only person Iceman ever eye-fucks is you." Bankotsu interjected and Jakotsu smacked him playfully. Bankotsu shrugged, flashing a winning smile.

"I saw you and King. He was unwrapping you like a fucking lolipop he wanted to suck. In our room. You two, except for beer-pong, were all over each other the whole time at Sig Ep Chi. And of course he helped you get me to the dorm. Like he was the fucking hero and I was some choke-artist. I wanted to throw him through a window." Nao hissed, his eyes gleaming and all the sudden everything clicked into place. Sesshomaru's chest lost a heavy, dense, dark weight he didn't even know was there. A lightness overtook him and with his blood still filled with drugs he started to laugh.

Naoki 'Naraku' Kumo. Badass incarnate, was jealous of Kouga King. Jealous of Kouga King over a prissy, nut-case, cokehead. He couldn't believe it. It made no sense.

"You were jealous? I thought you were pissed because I outed myself. I've only seen you sleep with girls, I—" Sesshomaru got cut off by Jakotsu and Bankotsu losing their minds in raucous laughter. Jakotsu almost hit the car in front of them. Nao simply blinked.

"You thought Naraku was a homophobe? Jak and I have been together for a year!" Bankotsu couldn't smirking. "Not that you should, or would know that. We aren't big on the PDA around people we don't know." Bankotsu reassured, and relief flooded Sesshomaru's system at not picking up on something totally obvious.

"Naraku, sleeps with any blonde he finds pretty enough, and trust me Sesshomaru, you are beyond the scope of pretty." Jakotsu stuck his tongue out and Nao threw the roll of tape at him. Bankotsu huffed in fake jealousy, tossing Jakotsu a dark look.

Wait, so…he had a legitimate shot? Sesshomaru had a chance with Nao?!

"Kouga and I are just friends. Don't even try to throw him through a window." Sesshomaru, reinforced, this time looking into Nao's unfocused, bourbon eyes.

"I'm such a bumbling jackass…" Nao murmured, his eyes tracing the collar of Sesshomaru's shirt. The fire from his gaze ignited him. Sesshomaru shifted, feeling something hard in his back pocket. His keys, and his wallet.

"Hey lovebirds. We are almost at the river. Why don't we drop you two off…sounds like you guys have some…uh, 'business' to take care of. Bank and I can go get your car before someone steals it." Jakotsu sing-songed again, and Nao kicked the driver's seat, but it lacked a lot of force. Sesshomaru's mouth went dry. He wished he had water.

"Yeah…here the keys. The Infiniti is at that dump of a headshop on Wishing Well avenue." Sesshomaru went to get the keys from his back pocket, but damn if Nao didn't beat him to it.

His heart stopped beating. Nao's hand on his ass. The touch didn't last nearly long enough.

"We know. We had your techie friend Ujab somehow hack and run a 'find my iphone' on you and we found your sweet whip. It's how we found you. Yura, who runs the headshop, hooked up with Hakudoshi at Magatsuhi's place once since he is always at the shop. She told us she saw you with them and told us where to find you. Magatsuhi wanted to set up a meet at some sketch location at night, he obviously was gonna try to fuck you up." Bankotsu supplied and Sesshomaru swallowed, he had been dangerously close to some serious crossfire. Nao and his friends went through some serious hoops to find him. Shit. Merda.

"Here you go Bank." Nao, with a devilish smirk splayed on his face tossed the plastic keyless entry.

"Don't worry about your Q60, I won't scratch it or proc the supercharger, I saw the special gauge on the dash. You hit pay dirt Naraku. Keep this one." Bankotsu held up the keyless entry. Sesshomaru's face reddened instantly, why was he always so awkward? Why were they making this awkward? Or were they?

"I prefer Japanese imports, or as you call them whips…thank you for um… finding me." Sesshomaru replied, thrown for a loop. At least the mescaline was finally starting to wear off.

"Don't thank me. It's my fault you were involved in the first place." Nao muttered, malice heavy in his voice as the car slowed to a stop on the embankment on the side of the road.

They dropped them off at a deserted part of the Goshinboku river, Sesshomaru studied Nao as he expertly took apart the Beretta, cleaning it piece by piece. Nao obviously knew guns.

"I lied to you about my past." Nao's voice hung heavy in the afternoon sun. It must be close to sunset. Sesshomaru shifted his weight, deciding to lean back against the sycamore tree nearby. The changing leaves were all on the ground. It was almost Thanksgiving.

He especially hated Thanksgiving, but now looking at the built, strikingly handsome man, all curls of hair, ripples of muscle, and jagged grins, he had something, rather someone to be thankful for.

"My father and I didn't change our name and move because of that skid mark of a terrorist who murdered my mother. We moved to the West Coast because shortly after that I moved through quickly ranks of a new gang chapter. I did a lot of bad shit Sesshomaru. I destroyed a lot of people's lives. I crippled, maimed, and did worse to guys. They weren't innocent people, but I was worse than some of them. Don't ask about details; I won't answer you to protect you. Well other than the ones I'm about to tell you about." Nao murmured, turning the disassembled Beretta barrel in his hands.

"I know Magatsuhi killed that man because I ripped the phone off the wall and gave it to him. I know Hakudoshi stabbed that guy over the drug deal because I told him to do it. I was the Ace of Spiders, the one who ran the web. That's what my tats mean. Magatsuhi was my second in command, the King of Spiders. He has a matching set." Nao paused, finished cleaning the gun and threw it piece by piece into the river, in different directions at different depths.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything. He knew that tattoo meant something. Sesshomaru was having a hard time reconciling the man who defended him against his own friends who called him 'captain hook', who summoned all those fans to his soccer game, who without even being asked, and who was integral in getting his case appealed, with the man Nao just described.

His Nao, the Nao he knew, didn't sound like that at all. He was no saint, and he had anger issues. But to be honest even when Nao had him against the wall, and after he kicked him, he never feared him. Nao deserved to hit him back after he kicked him, but he didn't.

He was never scared of Nao.

"My old man wasn't stupid. He knew what was going on. He knew I was going to get myself killed, or finally get arrested for something other than simple possession or breaking and entering. He sat me down one night, after I nearly got my skull dented in with a crowbar by some rival gang, and showed me the photos of people who I could end up as. People he represented. My old man was the best, and even he couldn't keep those people out of prison." Nao put his hand to his side, taking out the large hunting knife, flipping it a few times, always catching its hilt.

"In prison, it's easy to just turn off the human switch in you and become something else, something demonic. Especially if you have nothing to lose. Not saying all inmates are like that, just saying I know that's how I'd be. I'd run that prison; I'd be the Ace of Spiders of the maximum security web." Sesshomaru's chest clenched, Nao didn't even bother looking at him in the eyes, he just stared out at the glittering river and the sky that was slowly turning red and pink. It glinted off the knife

"I didn't want to be the Ace of Spiders anymore…" Nao threw the knife into the water and finally turned to him, eyes dark even in the sunlight.

Sesshomaru didn't want to interrupt him, but he stared back as intently as he could, trying to anchor Nao to the present, instead of letting him drift off to the past. His Nao, the one he knew protected people, his teammates from other players, himself from Magatsuhi. He finished fights, he didn't start them.

"I didn't want to be the guy who just destroyed everything, it gets old. I don't know how I turned into the guy who stepped on other's backs, ripped other's necks open to get what I want. It's like something just snapped after my mom died. It's not easy leaving a gang though, they're your family, your security system. Magatsuhi and his psychotic bitch girlfriend hunted me down when they caught wind I wanted out." Sesshomaru swallowed, he didn't like the heavy, hopeless tone Nao's voice took.

He also didn't approve of anyone hunting down Nao.

"I was driving home from hockey practice when Midoriko and Magatsuhi ambushed me in my car. At the time I took an alley as a short cut to get home. Rookie mistake on my part. Magatsuhi blocked me in with his suburban from behind, and Midoriko trapped me with her car from the front. She got out with an uzi, like she was from 'Straight Out of Compton', South Central, L.A. To this day I still don't know which cum-guzzler gave her a gun like that. She was as sadistic as they come. She opened fire, full auto, and I dove under the dash and floored the accelerator." Nao kicked a rock, and Sesshomaru bucked off the tree, deciding to stand closer to Nao.

"I ran her down. Her body got trapped between my car hood and hers. I managed to get out of my car and I ran. I called my old man on a payphone. I had a Beretta, illegally obtained, in my car, just like the one I just threw into the river. My old man managed to get me off with self-defense. It almost didn't stick, but it helped Midoriko was eighteen and I was only sixteen. It was a twist of fate I hadn't fired the Beretta in forever." Nao made no move to get closer to Sesshomaru, he just shook his head.

"The devil was looking out for me because I almost shot Kageromaru, of all people, for following me earlier that day. That's how they found out about me wanting to leave. Kageromaru is a devious bastard. I think he found me here at Shikon State and spied on me. I think he told Magatsuhi who decided to slow-bait you as revenge against me." Nao picked up a rock and skipped it into the slow moving river. It skipped three times.

He picked up another. Sesshomaru stood next to him, picked up a rock and did the same, his skipped four times. Nao tried again, the rock was the wrong shape, however, and just sunk in the river.

It then, occurred to Sesshomaru that Nao blamed himself for this. Sesshomaru frowned, he knew he was getting drugs from some sketchy people, he wasn't a fool. These guys were clearly scathing, vicious criminals who had a vendetta against Nao.

Nao wasn't to blame.

"My license is revoked though for the illegal possession conviction; even though I changed my name I didn't want to risk the background check here with my new one. I'm officially luggage. But that's how I ended up here." Nao turned to Sesshomaru, a slight slice of a smirk carved into his strong facial features. The smirk didn't reach his eyes, Sesshomaru inwardly sighed. He didn't know what to say.

They stood in silence for a moment while Sesshomaru gathered his thoughts in his drug fogged brain.

"You were only sixteen. In Rio, what you did, isn't that abnormal in the favelas. I'm not saying I lived in the slums, we were well-off. Just…what you did took a lot of courage. I am unsure if I could have done the same. In a gang, when you become a leader like that, the power you feel is such a head rush. I knew of some guys like that in Rio. They get protective, but also ruthless and they just want more power. It's an addiction. Trust me I know those." Sesshomaru babbled, man he must have sounded like an idiot. He was no psychiatrist, he failed at therapy at every rehab clinic he crawled in and out of.

Nao turned to him, astonished, and Sesshomaru dared say vulnerable.

"I don't blame you for any of this. You saved me from it." Sesshomaru grabbed him and with one hand and a bum ankle, pulled Nao into a rough kiss.

He splayed his fingers in Nao's curly hair and he didn't care that he probably smelled like an opium den, or that Nao's stubble was totally going to give him beard-rash later. His tongue plunged into his mouth and Sesshomaru worked his lips feverishly against Nao's full ones. Nao's lips and mouth softened against his after a long hesitation.

He needed Nao to believe him. His conviction was as real as his clawing attraction to him.

Nao's strong arms caught him by surprise. He reeled him into his chest like he was on a string. Nao never once treated him differently with his arm, or coddled him, or treated him like he was made of glass. He needed that. Wanted that, and damn did Nao just taste so good, like scotch, plums, and pepper. The guy was also a furnace, a firm, strong furnace that he could lean to if he needed it.

Because he hated feeling cold, despite his typical demeanor. Iceman. Ha.

Nao's hand snaked through his hair teasing its long, ash blond strands, tangling them further. They both wanted to mess each other up, to mark the other, to burn themselves up in each other's destruction. He wanted Nao, his cock was already hard as a rock and he shoved it against Nao's leg to make him know it. Nao's poked his hip, Nao would positively split him in half he was that hung.

The thought of Nao plowing into him inflated the warm aroused a warmth deep within Sesshomaru. There was a part of him that welcomed his own destruction and if Nao could do it to him, he would want nothing more. He moaned lowly into the kiss when Nao's hand slipped down to cup his ass.

They broke apart for air, Nao's pupils blown out in something other than just lust.

"I'm the bad guy Sesshomaru. I root for the bad guys in all the movies we watched. If this was a fairytale or whatever I'd be the one fucking with people, I'd be cackling as the world burned." Nao admitted finally, Sesshomaru's gaze hardened. Was he trying to warn him off him?

"You aren't the bad guy any more than I am. Though if you were a good guy I'd have torn you apart by now, and vice versa. We're just…. Well, I'll think of something clever when I'm not coming down off mescaline and coke." Sesshomaru rubbed his temple, suddenly feeling really grey. He wanted to kiss him again.

"…I stalked you." Sesshomaru focused on Nao. What?

"I couldn't just live with anyone in the dorms, hell even Bankotsu was afraid of me at first. Something popped up on the school website about new promising scholarship athletes. I read their fake, self-congratulatory, circle-jerk, media whoring article about supporting para-athletes. You were obviously their crown jewel, showing you off like some sort of show-horse to get positive media attention. Using you. I knew how that felt. In every photo they took of you, your gaze could freeze hell. You hated everything about it. I could relate to that, you are also smoking hot. I had my old man bribe the housing board to get us to room together. I wanted you from the beginning, I just had to trap you first." Nao admitted. Sesshomaru blinked. He was right. The first thing he thought about him was that he had stalked him.

"I'm not something to be caught! You're such an obsessive sinister, cruel, cabrao! Bastard!." Sesshomaru balked back in offense. He did fight dirty! Nao's eyes lit up from within, flashing almost scarlet.

"You have no idea….do you want to find out? I wouldn't blame you if you walked away now, you're the only one who knows most of my dirty secrets." Nao hesitated; he never did that. "…so do you want to…do you still want to give us a go?" Nao asked softly. The insecurity radiating off him chilled Sesshomaru, and he hated being cold.

He shoved his lips roughly onto Nao's again, angry, desperate, domineering and heated. Their kiss edged towards the sloppy side but neither cared. Sesshomaru never wanted to hear Nao sound like that again.

"I don't care what you did, maybe I should but I don't. I just care about what you do from here on out." Sesshomaru's amber eyes lit up and Nao shoved his tongue down his throat. Sesshomaru moaned, the slight helpless feeling of Nao devouring him made his pulse race. He could only show this side of himself to Nao. He relished that the small, crescent shaped feeling in him that he needed to sometimes be vulnerable. To let go, to not be in total control for once. He wasn't laughed nor judged by Nao for it either.

He could only trust Nao with this. This fragile shard of himself.

"Why me? You can get with practically anyone. I'm not exactly low-maintenance." Sesshomaru had pulled back from the kiss and Nao just exhaled like he had asked him what two plus two equaled.

"And you can't get with anyone? Do I look low-maintenance to you?" Nao flashed all his teeth and snapped his jaw quick, in what was a half-smile, half-bite. Sesshomaru's mouth draw stringed into a tight frown, but flattened back out when Nao put both hands around his face.

"You're the only one who calls me out, who dares put me in my place. Who can! You're fucking crazy resilient; I'd be in a padded cell, wearing a monkey costume talking to imaginary friends if I went through half the shit you did. There is no one else I could ever want to watch horror movies with, or cheer for me, or watch decimate in soccer, or team up with beer pong. There is no one else I could ever want more than you." Nao's voice hit him like a torrent of molasses.

Nao's words didn't merely wash over Sesshomaru, they stuck to him. They filled his ears and lungs with a shockingly viscous, syrupy sweetness quite unexpected from the guy who once punched a hole through drywall over a lost slap-bet.

Sesshomaru had zero idea what to say back, luckily his words usually didn't need his brain to form them.

"You're…the only one who didn't regard me differently when meeting me. You know when to help, and when to hang back. You put in a lot, muito, effort to know me, my favorite DJs, my soccer skills, my friends. I even heard you speak a non-curse word in Portuguese the other day in the cafeteria. No one has ever cared to know me this well or given this much of a shit about me, until you. I want to…know you too. The effort matters to me, you matter." Sesshomaru almost chickened out saying it. He wasn't one for these sort of declarations.

He didn't even talk to his mother like this back in Rio. He had a feeling though, Nao wouldn't mock him for sounding like such a trite telenovela star.

"I have been known to be a touch obsessive with who and what I intend on possessing." Nao closed the distance, taking his hands from either side of his face and ensnaring him around his back and shoulders like a kraken. Their lips touched, and the glowing warmth glittered down his neck and spine from their tongues tangling. Sesshomaru took his arm and attacked back, raking his nails down the back of Nao's black and silver Chimera metal band T-shirt.

He wanted Nao to consume him whole, to erode him down and see what he was inside. He wanted to unleash Nao's inner demons and eradicate them. He wanted Nao to feel as safe as he did when he was with him.

They could both try together to become complete people. They could try to un-break themselves, even if it took forever, even if it never happened at all.

Nao broke the kiss, eyes frenzied like he might spontaneously combust.

"I'm a highly-selfish, possessive, hyper-aggressive, manipulative prick with anger management issues." Nao's bourbon eyes looked red in the sunset light as he pierced Sesshomaru through with his intense gaze.

"And I'm a self-imploding, manic, emotionally-detached, arrogant asshole with substance abuse issues." Sesshomaru quirked a smile back at him in a challenge. Nao laughed hard, his chest rumbled against his.

"Shit. We're both really fucked up. Like, you could probably write a television series about our colossal heap of bullshit issues. We'd scare any therapist into pissing into their trashcan." Nao grinned mischievously, his face all jagged, sinister lines.

"Let's just hope they come back soon with my Infiniti; I need you to fuck me through our shower wall." Sesshomaru looked out to the road and Nao laughed richly again, his voice sounding like single malt scotch, well-aged and promising of a good night.

"Oh. That I can do. You won't be able to walk straight the next morning. It's a good thing you have that crutch and a really good reason to not be running…." Nao's threat hung in the air like a guillotine as Nao wrapped his arms around Sesshomaru's chest.

Nao, behind Sesshomaru, snaked one hand down the front of Sesshomaru's jeans, the other lifted his chin and captured Sesshomaru's neck in a bruising, sucking kiss. Sesshomaru whined, Nao took his time sucking and caressing him like he physically intended on possessing him.

Like he was seriously trying to absorb him, consume him.

Sesshomaru stopped thinking when Nao's hand roamed low enough to stroke his erection, it instantly dampened in pre-cum. Damn you, foda-se, Nao Kumo.

"I'll believe it when I feel it." Sesshomaru bantered back and he swore Nao growled into his neck. Sesshomaru almost wobbled completely off balance as Nao spun him around and half carried him against the tree.

Nao's arms were on either side of his head against the large tree trunk. His eyes were dark, wide and intense like he was about to devour a meal. Sesshomaru swallowed, maybe goading Nao on wasn't the smartest thing to do…

Beneath the canopy of the sycamore tree Nao crashed into Sesshomaru like a tidal wave against a cliff.

"I'll have you over and over, until you tire of me. I'm at your mercy." Nao grinned and it sounded more like a command than an admission. Sesshomaru hissed in between Nao marking his neck and gnawing on the shell off his ear. "In return No one else will have you. I'm the only one who gets to see you, who gets to do this. I'll break anyone, destroy anything that dares to come between us." Nao's dark licorice voice murmured into Sesshomaru's ear and his hands, quicker than a spider lunging, undid his jeans, unzipped his fly and tugged everything down to his thighs.

Sesshomaru had no time to breathe much less think as Nao went to his knees and took his cock in his mouth like he had done it a thousand times before.

And in his dreams he had, but this, this was hotter, more reckless than any dream.

They were outside. In. Public. and he was letting Nao suck the soul out of him. He was no exhibitionist, despite the swingset fling, but he was panting Nao's name like a rabid dog.

Nao was at his mercy!? In what fucking universe? Didn't he get that if it wasn't for his hand his hips and the other on his balls and taint he'd be crumbled on the ground by now?!

Sesshomaru gripped Nao's curly hair like reins on a horse, he had to stay standing. He pushed back into the tree with his back and pushed into Nao's mouth with his hips.

Sesshomaru corrected himself, this past weekend was nothing. This. This was bliss.

Nao slipped his jaw back and looked up to Sesshomaru as he flicked the tip of his wet cock while simultaneously tracing his sure fingers back to his entrance and twirled his fingers around it.

Sesshomaru's mouth went dry and a tingle washed down the sides of his neck, back of his triceps, his kidneys and pooled at his groin like a bottle filled with bees.

His knees shook, Nao brought out all his weaknesses. Sesshomaru moaned, but it sounded more like a bark.

"No one… else. Just you. onl—" Sesshomaru cut off as Nao took him all the way and Sesshomaru came deep, completely surprised at how sudden his own release was, like Nao somehow planned it all.

He cried Nao's name and curled over him like he surrendered in a battle he didn't know he fighting.

He slumped down, he knew he must look like a total slack fool, and he was about to get dirty on the ground but he didn't care. His mind swam and his eyelids fluttered, he formulated a plan in his mind of how to get his revenge on Nao.

He did feel more lightheaded than usual, he would use that to his advantage as Nao helped ease him down, his lips trailing kisses up his cotton shirt to his neck, seeing his eyes dark and lips swollen made up Sesshomaru's mind.

"Nao…I need to sit for a moment." Sesshomaru laid his trap with heavily lidded eyes and Nao's eyebrows knit together and then rose.

"I didn't mean to… do you need anything?" Nao's lips thinned and he was still on his knees, ass on his heels. Sesshomaru had a lot of practice taking off pants with one hand. This would be easy. Nao would be his.

"You." Nao wasn't the only one who could fight. He expertly twisted Nao off his precarious center of gravity and spun him to the dirt, face up. Sesshomaru in one move had already straddled a stunned Nao's knees and with a hand that acted more like the talons of a falcon, undid Nao's black jeans and flung the fly down to free the bulge that had softened a little. Sesshomaru smirked, so his trick worked a little too well and Nao actually was concerned he took it too far. Mistake.

"Sesshomaru, don't you dar—" Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and freed Nao's seeping erection from his boxers and with a tight ring around the base, knowing full well he couldn't deep throat all of Nao, he silenced the hockey player.

Well, he didn't stay silent for long. His voice shot high and airy like a jet engine's shriek.

So. Nao was a screamer. And they were outside in daylight. This just got more interesting. Sesshomaru literally had no idea. The few times he walked in on Nao and his "flavors of the week" Nao had never made sounds like that.

Sesshomaru rose from the base of his cock to lock eyes with the pleading man who was propped awkwardly on his elbows as if he couldn't decide to lay back down or sit up. He had dead leaves in his hair and was losing his mind.

"Shooo… fuck. You're fucking… yyyyyyaaaaaaah." Nao's back jackknifed up and his thighs reflexively closed in but it was too late, Sesshomaru had already decided he was going to claim him here.

He increased the suction, swirled his tongue down, and increased his pace. Nao's penis twitched inside his mouth. He was close.

"I'm going to destroy you when we get ba—" Nao's voice still sounded high pitched, like a banshee or a Demon chanting a curse as he cupped Sesshomaru's head and spread his legs back out.

Sesshomaru, again, was surprised how carefully and almost gently he held his head as he bobbed up and down faster. This was a guy who slammed people against plexi glass for fun, who apparently assaulted people with deadly weapons, and he was refraining from tugging or yanking his hair too hard.

Nao was a total contradiction.

"Fuck Sho I can't…you're… " Nao's hips slung up into Sesshomaru's mouth and he came hot and heavy like a missle locked on a target down Sesshomaru's throat.

Sesshomaru barely had time to swallow before Nao brought his head up and brought him into a needy, messy kiss. They both tasted like the other and Sesshomaru soon found himself with his back against the tree, still straddling Nao. Sesshomaru had his hand on Nao's stubbled jaw, blond hair veiling them both.

He opened his eyes and looked down at the man who he was usually shorter than. He could barely process what had just happened.

"You're a deviant." Nao's eyes flashed. Sesshomaru leaned back in offense.

"Says the guy who started it." Sesshomaru countered and Nao rose his dark eyebrows.

"I believe it was you who kissed me first, Prissy asshole." Nao's lips curled up like a strung bow.

"Hmph. I had to do something to get that stupid look off your face. Creepy cabrao." Sesshomaru snorted and Nao laughed again.

"It wasn't nearly as stupid as the face you made in the jeep." Nao, with only the strength of someone who regularly squatted could do, rose, hands cupping Sesshomaru's ass and stood both of them up.

Sesshomaru wasn't sure if he would ever get used to feeling Nao's roving hands on his ass.

Speaking of the jeep, he heard the unmistakable rumble of his Q60. It didn't sound like Bankotsu had used the supercharger but he honestly couldn't blame him if he had.

"So about that shower Iceman…" Nao leered at him as they both zipped up their flies and attempted to look normal. It probably would never work They were too far from normal.

Sesshomaru plucked a red leaf from Nao's hair.

"I'm still not calling you maverick." Sesshomaru glared at him, as if daring him to challenge him. Nao just smirked.

"One day. One day you will." Nao's smile was all teeth as the two cars pulled up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your support! I may be a bit delayed in these next coming chapters because I am moving to Shanghai but there will be one more chapter then a sequel :)
> 
> thank you for all your support, please let me know how you like it!


	6. You Give Love A Bad Name

_again, some sexually explicit content in this chapter: you have been warned!_

**You Give Love a Bad Name**

**)*(**

 

"Nao, don't stop!" Sesshomaru rasped, his writhing body afire. His back arced off the bed the bed then immediately caved back down, searching for that perfect angle, that perfect spot and he wanted, but was denied at the same time.

His legs, almost as erect as his own cock, were planted flush against Nao's sweaty, chiseled torso, his ankles flanked his gloriously undone face. Nao's curls grew like sea serpents during sex and it never failed to make Sesshomaru weak inside though he'd never admit it.

"Never. I make the rules." Nao slung back his hips and bucked back into Sesshomaru with a wet slap of his ballsack. Sesshomaru saw spots; he tore at the sheets of Nao's bed, biting his lip, suppressing a yip of pleasure.

"Nao…" it was great the only syllable he could think of was his name. Sesshomaru opened his eyes from squinting them shut in barely hidden lust. He lifted his neck, but didn't need to much. Nao loomed over him, all passionate black velvet.

Nao, hazy eyed, eyebrows slanted, and jaw loose, crumbled before him. Nao was that beautiful moment of darkness right before dawn, that let you know you had more time to sleep, or party. His shoulders, his arms, everything that was usually so tense and rigid in him melted and softened.

Well, almost everything. He left out one large exception.

Sesshomaru let out an unabashedly loud moan as Nao changed his angle, slamming into his prostate just right. His eyelids fluttered and his toes curled.

"Y-y-yeah Nao." Sesshomaru whimpered and if it was anyone else he was getting pounded from he never would have lived that down. It wasn't a sound he allowed himself to make.

But this was Nao. Nao was his exception.

His cock twitched and tingled, straight and tall as a lighthouse. He was about to come and Nao had hardly even touched it. It wasn't fair, he could hold on for hours before he Nao fucked him for the first time and positively ruined him for other men. He could basically not resist him. He almost resented Nao for his prowess.

It also wasn't fair Nao tied his arm to the bed. That dirty cabrao: fuck.

"Shhhhooo...you're too tight. I am going you defeat you. You're bane of my existence." Nao's voice always somehow got higher during sex. Sesshomaru had to smirk at that, Nao had the quirkiest dirty talk. He could serve it back.

"You're just my filthy little puta. Bow down." Sesshomaru managed to pant out, hair fanned out in tangled, sweaty strands across the bed. Usually the condition of his hair was a high priority, but now it didn't matter to him all. The dorm could burn down and he wouldn't leave till Nao came inside him like a firehose.

"Fuck you. Foda-se. I'll show you little." Nao growled out, himself, in Portuguese. And in a high, lung raking gasp he rocked back into Sesshomaru at a shockingly slow pace. Sesshomaru hips jutted forward begging for all of him.

"Is it in yet?" Sesshomaru knew he was cruising because Nao's eyes flashed bright and sharp. Sesshomaru fought a laugh. He was feeling particularly snarky this morning.

Maybe because it was Christmas.

"I'm going to fuck you through this mattress. I'm gonna make you beg for it like a dog. You won't leave this bed for a week!" Nao's pupils, dilated in a lust only meant for Sesshomaru. His red brown appeared serious, but his voice smirked and gave away his game.

Sesshomaru could usually tell when Nao was lying or hiding something.

Nao took Sesshomaru's quivering erection into his lube greased right hand and began to pump it like a super soaker. Sesshomaru sucked in a lungful of steamy air. Damn Nao. He was helpless against that. He, unable to get any leverage and tied up, trembled vulnerably. Today he was entirely at Nao's mercy, and he was proving to be relentless.

Sesshomaru howled a bunch of garbled syllables into the air, his blood had lava gushing in it and deep within him he knew he was close to eruption.

Nao, who just had slowly pushed in, pulled out quickly just to completely fill him again and tilt his hips, just like he knew how Sesshomaru liked it. Sesshomaru would have to get him back for this later. He was just being cruel.

"Nao Kumo I hate yo-" Sesshomaru spurted all over himself and Nao's hand. Sesshomaru had no idea how he managed to find the brain capacity to make a sentence when his brain had nothing but fireworks exploding in it. His jaw hung loose and his eyes unfocused on Nao who sported a conniving smile. He relished in getting Sesshomaru off first.

Nao took his right hand and licked Sesshomaru's cum from it. It turned Sesshomaru on, but after sex it did weird him out.

But this was the guy who had 'Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die' tattooed across his chest.

"I hate you more Sho Taisho." Nao's voice sounded gravely with desire. Sesshomaru watched Nao's body shudder and convulse. His face slacked and he almost looked in pain as his lower body thrashed and a choked, high, scream rushed out his lungs. His whiskey colored eyes smoldered, flickering and yielding, like every time he came into Sesshomaru he gave up a part of himself. Besides semen.

The dark and powerful Naoki Kumo, buckled and collapsed. Nao was utterly at his mercy.

Nao didn't care about the mess as he let Sesshomaru's legs go and they both fell heavy and limp on either side of the raven haired man. He pulled gingerly out of Sesshomaru and carefully slid up Sesshomaru's spent body, both breathing heavy and humid. Sesshomaru met his dark eyes and unleashed a rare, candid smile which Nao reciprocated fully. Nao nuzzled his handsome, sweaty face in the crook of Sesshomaru's neck, laying somewhat on the bed, and somewhat on him.

Sesshomaru learned something quite curious about Nao from their first round of sex. The 6'5'' 190 pound, ripped to hell defenseman, who had an arsenal of sex toys: loved to cuddle.

Nao took cuddling very seriously. Sometimes requiring an hour or so of it.

Sesshomaru didn't mind, he could lay with him till the apocalypse occurred, or they got horny again. Or Nao got hungry. Sesshomaru knew which one would occur first, well, Sometimes Nao did get particularly hungry, the man had a voracious appetite.

Nao captured his swollen lips softly. Tenderly, quite unlike the sex they just had, he moved his lips against Sesshomaru's, breathy, tentatively, and completely enraptured. It quietly humbled Sesshomaru that Nao always gazed, kissed and caressed him like he was always surprised and grateful he was in his bed, not bolting to leave.

He would have to work on that, because despite how odd Nao was; he was the best thing to happen to him.

Not that Nao needed to hear that, his ego was already too big.

"We have each other's tattoos." Sesshomaru finally spoke as Nao lavished his attention on his neck and Nao peeled back, confusion and anger flamed in his eyes.

"You are no spider. We've been over this." Nao's voice held a stern note and Sesshomaru rolled his eyes, of course he'd assume the damn spider tat. That wasn't the only one he had, and he knew that. He needed to get the damn thing covered up if he was this hung up over it.

"No, your quote. It suits me better. At first I thought it suited you, but I've realized I'm the weird one, and surviving a wreck like mine is pretty rare…well and the obvious drug use." Sesshomaru thought out loud and Nao still thinned his lips in an angry warning.

"You've been clean for three weeks and two days." Nao missed the point. Damn why did he even say anything.

"I meant in the past. Mine is 'whatever happens, happens'. It defines you much more you than me. You just don't get hung up on life's bullshit like I do." Sesshomaru explained and Nao finally got it, nodding in agreement and continued to kiss down and up his chest. Nipping every so often, until he got back up to his neck

"You…" nip. "can…" suck. "be a little…" lick. "too uptight…" kiss. Sesshomaru flicked his shoulder with a strong fingernail.

"What? It's my job to loosen you up, to be your bad influence." Nao chuckled into his neck. It tickled and Sesshomaru squirmed a bit, smiling softly.

"You're an idiot." Sesshomaru scoffed.

"You chose an idiot, that makes you a bigger idiot." Sesshomaru moved to try to get from under Nao and smack him a pillow but Nao held him fast.

"Merry Christmas Iceman." Nao said in between giving him a hickey and biting his ear. He hoped his father didn't care about the hickey, he owned no turtlenecks.

"Merry Christmas Nao.…What?! I'm not calling you Maverick." Sesshomaru absolutely refused to indulge Nao in that particular pleasure. Nao scowled and assumed his position of big spoon, Sesshomaru's left side up, Nao snaking his left arm around his waist and under his arm to untie it from the bed.

They simply lay, curled together, sweaty and slightly skin on skin, sheets forgotten. Blissed out of their skulls. He found his home, which was convenient because he didn't have one before.

Sesshomaru, sappily, knew this was the best Christmas he could wish for. Fantastic sex and someone who wanted him, and fought for him. Someone he could, and would, do the same for. It also helped Nao just always smelled good. He smiled, and he knew it lit his face.

They had decided to forgo real presents this year. Except not.

Nao was working on getting his license back; he'd be eligible for it soon. Nao promised he would drive him around in Tereza Senda, which he improperly pronounced, Tenseiga, his blue Rx-7. He couldn't wait for that. Sesshomaru, secretly, got them both tickets to the L.A. Kings versus New Jersey Devils NHL game in a couple weeks.

Also, because Tessaiga Enterprises helped update the sound system for the Staples Center, Sesshomaru managed to get Nao locker room access to meet the Devils, his favorite team.

He was approximately ninety-eight percent sure he would enjoy this gift.

Sesshomaru had sneaking suspicion Nao got him something as well, he always seemed to be scheming.

Nao's left hand roamed over his arm stump the down his body, and his right scratched his scalp and he hummed in approval.

Sesshomaru was about to ask when they were expected at Nao's father's house for Christmas dinner when his phone went off. Nao, closest to it, grabbed it.

He had learned Nao's real last name was Onigumo. Which explained a lot. Nao's father, Nataku Onigumo was a true legend, well, still is. He successfully defended people who no one wanted to. He could talk circles around prosecutors like he dribbled a ball around defenders.

The public thought he fled America to avoid another attack on his family, but really he just managed to completely change his and Nao's identities. Not an easy feat, but apparently he was just that good, or knew some criminals who owed him some very large favors.

"Blocked number…." Nao murmured, he knew that murmur. It was the suspicious sort.

"Probably just some telemarketer. Let it go." Sesshomaru waved it off but Nao, the paranoid bastard answered it. He was paranoid ever since Magatsuhi's parents posted his bail. All their trials were next month, unless a continuance was granted.

"Speak fast shit stain or I will reach through the phone, fist my hand down your throat and play your vocal chords like a guitar for you." Nao threatened viciously, obviously expecting it to be Magatsuhi. Sesshomaru groaned. Couldn't they just have a normal Christmas?

After that day in November, things went almost precisely how Nao told him they would. The neighbors heard the shot and called it in. That obviously tipped off about the whereabouts of the armed robbers. Byakuya, the only member not involved with the armed robbery, rolled on all of them to cut a deal for the myriad of other charges.

When he asked Nao about how he would deal with what could easily be an attempted murder charge, and Nao's and Bankotsu's assault and battery charges his eyes just gleamed and said he took care of it.

To this day he wasn't sure what exactly Nao did, but Nao did reassure him that, no he didn't kill, nor beat the piss out of anyone. He may have just used Kanna Glass again. He also said that with no gun, Magatsuhi didn't have much on him, especially if Magastushi was drugged up and Sesshomaru was slipped something. It was his word versus his and apparently Nao offered something very generous to Byakuya to ensure he saw Sesshomaru leave before they returned from the robbery.

Nao didn't frighten him, he impressed him, and that sort of frightened him.

"What?! Who the hell is this?!" Sesshomaru stiffened. Not him. No. Not today. Not of all days. He just wanted to go ice skating and make a good impression on Nao's father. Maybe even have a nice dinner that Nao didn't have to cook. His chest clenched, and Nao picked up on it immediately.

"You're calling from a blocked number and you ask who I am?! What kind of insufferable prick are you? I will hunt you dow—" Sesshomaru turned over onto his left side and put his hand out for the phone. Nao gripped the phone like he wanted to throw it into the wall. Nao went through a phone every six weeks, even with an Otterbox. Nao, instead, put the phone on speaker and gave it to Sesshomaru.

He had been working on boundaries with Nao. Nao was slowly learning.

"Inuyasha. You're violating your restraining order." Sesshomaru spoke languidly as possible into the phone. Nao's eyes widened and then narrowed again, he could smell Nao thinking something lethally destructive for his brother.

He put the phone on his lap as he attempted to prop himself up on the headboard. Nao helped him with the endeavor. Having a jacked boyfriend was useful, Nao either hadn't picked up on the fact he sort-of used him, or simply didn't mind.

No. he probably saw it as some form of ego boost.

"Yeah, Yeah, I know. Who in the hell was that on your phone?! He sounds like an axe murderer." Inuyasha sounded a bit shaken up and Sesshomaru cracked a grin.

"I am Sesshomaru's boyfriend. I haven't ever used an axe before to kill, but if you don't have a good reason to be calling, I may prove your particular theory correct." Nao snarled into the phone and Sesshomaru glared at him. He could handle his brother.

"Fuck. I'm on speaker?! Fine, hello Sesshomaru's sadistic, serial killer, boyfriend, I'm calling to apologize so please don't lumberjack me." Sesshomaru stopped breathing. No way he heard him correctly. Sesshomaru swallowed, he couldn't lose his composure. Nao leaned back.

"Apologize?" Sesshomaru asked simply. Maybe he only meant the whole dorm room fight. It felt so long ago already. The bedroom began to feel way too small.

"…Myoga. He found out the rest of the documents from that Private Investigator, Kanna Glass. The one about dad's accident. He found some other's too, like the ones about how your grandparents weren't actually Nazis, and your custody case. Kimi fought the courts for two years in O.C., way after my mom and our dad got together, to get custody and take you to Brazil. She finally proved to the judge that dad, in a coked-out rage, threw that ugly sculpture in the foyer, the Meido Stone, at her while she was holding you as a baby. He missed, obviously. That stupid sculpture was still in the damn house. I tossed it out." Sesshomaru's pupils constricted. Nao told him about this, but it constricted his lungs to hear Inuyasha say it. The blood drained out of his face.

Kimi Silverhound was, still is, a strong woman; she did what she had to. She truly was getting better. The mental rehabilitation clinic she was in said while she was still currently 'No-Contact', she had stabilized and was doing great. If she continued to improve with her electroshock therapy, which the doctors anticipated, she'd be out of the clinic by spring break easily. He had Power of Attorney over her funds, and had already begun to search for a new condo to purchase for her. One that was pristine, white and one he'd buy a red carpet and white suede sofa for. He and Nao planned on flying to Rio to see her for spring break.

Yeah, that's how serious they were, planning spring breaks and stuff like that. Sesshomaru would never admit it but he was so relieved he could plan things in advance together.

"I knew dad wasn't ever father-of-the-year, but he'd put on this big song and dance for whenever you came around. Like we were some happy-cutesy shit family, but we weren't. I resented that you never saw what dad could really be like." Sesshomaru didn't move a muscle. He didn't dare breathe. His skin pricked with chills.

"You know, he watched like every video your mom sent of you doing that weird martial art, Karaoke. And he loved your soccer games. I had to bring home every goddamn trophy in existence to get him to give a shit about my games. He put you on some freak pedestal, but I think what he probably did was play us off each other. I remember when you would come around, it was all about what the fuck I was up to." Inuyasha confessed. Sesshomaru could tell his brother was getting emotional over the phone. He never rambled like this. This was new territory for the both of them.

He really wanted to get some Vicodin. He had a bottle of Valium that he hadn't touched. He didn't know if Nao knew about the bottle or not. His chest started to pinch and his throat clenched.

"It wouldn't be surprising if he had." Sesshomaru finally found his voice. It sounded enough like him but he didn't remember signaling his brain for the words. He could tell Nao next to him was watching him like a hawk. His eyes burned his temple like a sniper scope.

"Yeah. My mom played me too, I just…I…I just. You were an easy fall guy. I lied to you, I cared mom cheated on dad, even if he was an alcoholic cokehead. Your P.I. had no evidence he ever threatened my mom; I can believe that. She should have just left. I think…I think she stayed because she got used to the lifestyle, and to embezzle. I still love her though." The bedroom now positively felt too small, he languished to get out. Maybe he should hang up. Sesshomaru knew the whole report Kanna Glass found.

She had been eerily thorough, like that hacker from the 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' book. His blood began to itch. This conversation was headed a way he couldn't possibly handle. His lungs rattled.

"Listen. I know we haven't been close since I was like, ten or something, but if dad wanted you to have some shit, it should be yours. I'm not getting cheated; we're well taken care of, I know you won't like kick us out of the house like some grinch. I don't even want the company, I don't know anything about running one or outdoor music festival stages, sound equipment, lights, or stage effects. I'm gonna drop out of the case." Sesshomaru's eyes shot wide open. What had he said? He wanted to cede the inheritance to him? Nao leaned forward, as if inspecting the phone. Time stopped. Sesshomaru' hand clenched shut and opened again, spasaming.

"Inuyasha…" Sesshomaru started but he didn't exactly know where he was going after it.

"No just…let me get this out otherwise I'm gonna pussy out of it. You're not a bad guy, I'm sorry. My life is a fucking train wreck. Kagome, as you know purposefully lied to me about being on birth control, just now found out about Kikyo and I, and not because of your P.I. Kags went through my phone. She called off the engagement and won't talk to Kikyo. Shippo, our son, is due in the next couple weeks and I can't handle any of it. I shouldn't have judged you for all your rehab stints, because honestly I get it." Inuyasha's voice got a bit ragged towards the end. Sesshomaru couldn't handle it. This was seriously too much. His brother was apologizing? After all this time? On Christmas?

Why couldn't he just stay away from him?

Inuyasha was letting him win; letting him have his things back. He was letting him have his life back while his own was falling apart. Not like Sesshomaru cared about the failed engagement, he brought the baby mama drama on himself. But, what in the hell?

He had no idea how to be anything else but the big-bad, big brother. The warning sign, don't be this guy, avoid turning out like Sesshomaru Taisho. Make sure he doesn't get his coke nailed hand on any of the inheritance. Don't be the guy with a crazy Nazi mom and the ingrate who killed his father on the 405. That's who he was, it was easy to play that part for Inuyasha, for everyone. The pressure to be something more weighed down on him like wet cement.

"I judged you as well. I may have referred to Kagome as a whiney slag, and that your only skill was CounterStrike." Sesshomaru almost smirked when he heard Inuyasha crack out a laugh on the other side of the phone.

He made Inuyasha laugh! Merda.

He was going to be sick. This was too much. He had to leave. He needed a fix. Something deep within Sesshomaru began to seize up, about to rupture. His chest ran cold, like he inhaled ice water. He hated the cold.

"You're an asshole, just not a…bad guy. I'm not going to forget the shade way you sent the blackmail and appeal paperwork to our house. It having an actual dagger in it was a bit much, Julius Caesar." Nao had not told him that. Sesshomaru clenched his fist again, the dagger Inuyasha had on him when he visited his dorm now made total sense. He felt his throat knot up and his pulse race icily. He didn't know what to do.

Nao next to him flinched and shrunk back, clearly forgetting about that little detail.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should bust out Christmas stockings and chug egg nog. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there was too much bad blood between us to start over. I could be just yammering like a gossipy housewife just to clear my own conscience too. But, fuck it. It's Christmas, and well, if I can't tell my brother I don't blame him for our cokehead father's death, when can I?" Inuyasha concluded over the phone. And Sesshmomaru could feel the pulse beat like his favorite EDM in his ears.

His hand trembled. He had to get some drugs in his system. Now. He couldn't process all of this. His entire body twitched invisibly, going haywire, like beast inside him fought to get free.

"Oh, and sorry about that stuff I said about your mom, it was shitty. I've never even met her." Inuyasha added, his voice breaking. Sesshomaru almost lost his damn mind. That apology mattered more to him than anything else.

He had everything he had fought for. For two and a half years he fought for this and now he was terrified of it. If he got the company he could tank it. He'd be responsible for the upkeep of that cruise boat of a house in Orange County. He'd be responsible for all their investments. They had financial advisors but damn. It would all be on him. He would have to run it all, this sounded like a disaster.

He'd be the face of their company. He'd be the new legacy. No room to screw up, no room to manuever or escape. He would be it.

He'd, in probably ten years, be fully running his father's legacy. Did he seriously think he could? Did he even want to anymore? He didn't expect to win. He expected to go back to Rio and scrape by…maybe start his own sound system and stage effects company.

Could he really be responsible for all those employees!? Their jobs? The image? The brand?

"… apology accepted Inuyasha. Merry Christmas. I'll… work on removing the restraining order. Don't call, I'll call you." Sesshomaru's voice sounded hoarse and he knew it. His whole body frosted over and every muscle in body hardened like granite. He became ice.

"Yeah. Merry Christmas. Kay. Um bye." He saw the call end and he just stared at it. The only thing rattling in his head was the line: 'Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.' Sesshomaru needed get out, why couldn't he just be happy?

Wouldn't normal people be happy? Wouldn't they be jumping on the bed screaming 'Best Christmas evar #shameless?' Why was he such a catastrophic nutjob?

"…I'm gonna go wash up." Words found him, he couldn't let Nao see him get sick over this. He didn't even hear Nao's reply as he rolled out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom as if in a trance. His hand trembled on the door knob, his joints stiff and jittery at the same time.

They had a no locked door policy on the bathroom, god Nao would be livid he didn't just remove the lock. He would be kicking himself he trusted a druggie. He'd be so disappointed in him, just like everyone else.

Just like his future employees.

He went in the bathroom and in slow motion locked the door behind him. The doors on handicap bathrooms opened out, there would be no kicking down this door. Nao would just have to do Christmas shit without him.

Sesshomaru stood at the counter, he flipped open the non-child safety lid on his Valium. He hadn't used in over a month. He had a full twenty count bottle.

More than enough.

He stared at his reflection, he had slowly started to like it. He savored the scalp massages Nao gave him when he insisted on putting his hair up. He didn't regret looking like his mother knowing how much stronger and better she was getting. He hadn't had any nightmares about his arm nor the wreck. He had made progress.

Now…he just. Damn. Could he do it?

Could he really do all that he promised that stupid lawyer Bokuseno, his backstabbing stepmother, and his 'rego do cu': ass crack of a father? That he could run the company, that he could do it all?

He used to know. He used to be certain.

He had no clue. He got fantastic grades his first semester, but this was undergrad. First semester didn't mean anything. His blood seemed to rush in reverse, his muscles not getting any oxygen, the stomach sinking realization he was a fraud seeped into his system.

He was a fake, an imposter. He was going to ruin everything again. Something inside him wanted to bust free. He wanted to scream as loud as he could.

He took the bottle and sunk like a stone to the floor, he spilled the Valium tablets across the freshly bleached linoleum. He hated dirty bathrooms, filthy anything. Nao thought he was a bit obsessive, like he was one to talk.

The green tablets just mocked him. Take me! Pick me! What's the harm in just one, five, nine?!

Somewhere, deep down, he knew he was better than what he constantly succumbed to. Was it too deeply buried to reach? That little crescent of himself, was it too small to save him?

He heard a knock on the door and his name.

Nope. He couldn't let Nao see him like this. Not this trembling, naked, hyperventilating wreck on Christmas. He'd have to wait. Nao would just have to wait to see his whacked out, letdown of a boyfriend curled up on the floor like a goddamn psycho.

They had been doing so well in therapy too. They both decided to go to someone good together, some old bat named Dr. Kaede. She was sharper than they gave her credit for. Much smarter than the quack the college provided. Nao was going to start legitimate anger management next semester. He would see a substance abuse specialist.

Was he just going to throw it all away? Wasn't that the same question Nao asked him once?

He wasn't thinking of a permanent solution to a temporary problem, he just needed a fix. He needed to feel loose, not this heaving, white knuckled, brittle as glass, chaos storm. He gripped his hair in tangled wad, about to pull it out, he embodied the word 'stress-case'.

Maybe pulling his hair out would make him feel better…maybe he should claw his skin off too.

His knees became damp against his cheeks. Jesus fucking the Easter bunny was he crying on Christmas?! He really could Pisar na Bola, drop the ball. Screw up.

Nao could do so much better. If he could find someone to deal with him having an Amazon Prime account solely for replacing gaming controllers, phones, and phone cases, that is.

The knocking became erratic, panicked pounding. Nao's voice was yelling now, almost shrill. Nao knew. Nao hated him. It was only a matter of time before he couldn't put up with his shit.

Sesshomaru pushed the pills around on the floor. Was he really hesitating? He never had before. What had changed? Was it that he promised his mother he'd visit and show him his sobriety chart? Well sober off drugs at least.

Was it Nao? No…not even Nao. Nao definitely held him together through some dark times. But still, he wasn't the reason he hadn't swallowed six Valium. He certainly was a partial reason…

Sesshomaru's inner musings were interrupted by a most impossible event. He heard a splintering, cracking, scrape and a devaststing crash. He jumped out of his skin, his whole body reacting like one would an explosion.

Sesshomaru tipped his head up, pupils like pinpricks.

Nao had literally ripped the bathroom door off its hinges and thrown it back into the common room. The wild, feral, unrestricted expression on his face and his flexed, tense shoulders told Sesshomaru one thing:

He had to be absolutely pissed.

Nao was going to kick his ass till next Tuesday. He didn't blame him; he broke his trust. He locked the door. They had worked on their trust issues in therapy.

Nao hastily approached Sesshomaru, balled on the floor, and instinctively Sesshomaru flinched and brought his arm up to block, waiting for the pain.

Nao stopped stock still, frozen in place. They were trapped, underwater in some sort of torture barrier, Sesshomaru thought. He shivered and couldn't breathe right. His lungs stung in his chest for air. He had to have hypothermia again. Had to.

"Sho no…no..no..no..I wasn't… Fuck." With a hard thud the floor quaked as Nao dropped to it.

Huh.

Sesshomaru chanced a peek over his knees and brought his arm down.

Nao was in some sort of contorted child's pose in front of him. It had to be uncomfortable. What was he doing? Nao was all burned skin, frizzed out black curls and his body rocked like an ocean during a hurricane. His chest was rising and falling, almost like in deep sobs.

Sesshomaru's chest gradually stopped rattling in his chest like a spray paint can. He was worried, Nao had never done anything like this before. He could usually predict Nao's behavior well, he relied on it. He didn't predict this.

Nao wasn't trying to touch him, he was just lying on the floor, over most of the pills. Sesshomaru had even forgotten about the pills.

"I'm sorry. I didn't… don't be scared of me. You are the only one who isn't. Fuck. I'm making this about me. I hate myself." Nao's voice croaked and echoed off the clean bathroom floor. Sesshomaru lifted his head, was Nao having a breakdown too?

Seriously, if only everyone could see the dumpster-fire that they were right now…

On damn Christmas. Thanksgiving was awful too. Rin had started to date some cock-up of a guy, Kohaku, who cheated on her. Nao and he, together, put Gatorade in gas tank of his ugly Dodge Charger, totaling it.

Rin was devastated someone did that to him. She was too kind. Wait. Why was he thinking about this!?

"I hate me, too. I know you wouldn't hurt me... I'm not scared of you; I'm freaked right now. I'm not me." Sesshomaru still didn't move, he wasn't quite ready. The only thing he could focus on was that he didn't want to leave. He also couldn't just leave Nao on the floor like this either.

Nao gradually lifted his messy head of raven curls, eyes red and not in the normal way. They were puffy. Nao had broken down. He had broken Nao down. So much for a Merry Christmas.

"I wasn't mad. I was afraid. I should've…" Nao put his forehead back down on his arm, banging his other fist on the floor, skin probably sticking to some of the tablets.

"You trusted me… I…" Sesshomaru trailed off. That's all he needed to say. Shame. What a chest grinding feeling. His body filled with heavy, liquid lead. He let Nao down, the only person he really wanted to hold up.

"Everyone, even Reddit, says you can't be in a relationship if you don't like yourself." Nao's voice sounded shredded in defeat. Sesshomaru's heart stopped like it had been knifed through. Nao didn't just say that. Kaede said something like that once but they were working through it, together. Them. Together. Maverick and Iceman. They were a team.

"I'm no good at any of this." Nao shifted and with lats still tense like razor wire, he stiffly sat up.

"Neither am I." Sesshomaru admitted. He never knew how much was too much or too little when helping Nao get his temper under control.

Maybe they were too screwed up to be with each other.

"Are we doing this? Are we ending us?" Nao asked, his voice just a low whisper, eyes unfocused on Sesshomaru's feet. Nao looked up, in horror at what he said and they locked eyes. Sesshomaru's insides shattered and like shards of a broken mirror, sliced him wide open. Maybe he really was internally bleeding. He already had hypothermia. His icy blood drained from his face and throbbed in his throat like a jagged ice block.

Life wasn't the movies. They weren't going to break up to work on themselves and have that magical reunion a year later with birds chirping and both of them miraculously being better at the same, in the same place.

If they ended it here. It ended. They ended.

Sesshomaru didn't say anything as Nao messed with the pills on the floor, putting them in four piles of five. Sesshomaru supposed he could take Kouga to the NHL game instead, but the thought it just filled him with a crushing, freezing, avalanche of agony.

"You… you didn't take any. You had plenty of time and you didn't take any…. Don't look at me like that. I know you had a twenty count bottle." Whiskey brown eyes lit up in amazement in the harsh fluorescent light.

No… he didn't, and yes he had time.

"And you didn't rip the door off its hinges because you had a temper tantrum. You did it because were concerned over me." Sesshomaru observed the battered door had been thrown over their sofa. Nao's face opened in surprise at Seshomaru's realization.

Nao, if properly motivated, could probably tear an entire castle apart. Mario had the wrong idea, you just tear the castle apart to find your former cokehead ice princess.

Nao gazed back at the door then to him, a glimmer of warmth flamed in his eyes. That reassured Sesshomaru.

"You wouldn't answer me…I thought maybe you had taken too many and were…I should have trus-" Sesshomaru didn't need him to finish his sentence. Sesshomaru just started laughing, a brittle, slowly warming laughter. His chest began to thaw out.

They still had more issues than Playboy, but they were… actually getting better. He could do it. He would give it all his best shot. Upper right ninety. He would try his best to do it all, run Tessaiga Enterprises, manage the mansion, graduate with honors, help his mother, win every soccer game, stay sober.

Stay with Nao.

He heard Nao laugh too, his rich, black licorice laugh.

"Let's shower. Then go ice skating and see if your dad hates me." Sesshomaru suggested in between laughs. He really wanted a shower. A shower with Nao in it. Sesshomaru slowly, methodically, began to uncoil. His muscles finding their rhythm, as he rose off the floor. His ass was sort of asleep. He didn't know long he has been sitting like that.

He was going to be so sore. Maybe Nao was right about him not walking straight. Whatever. He was still going ice skating. Nao promised he'd teach him and not be a prick about it.

"I trust you Nao." Sesshomaru this time, leaned over and gripped Nao's strong chin tilting it up, forcing him to look at him. To really believe and understand him.

"I trust you too, Sho." Sesshomaru brushed his lips against Nao's. They'd figure this out together. Nao wasn't the only one who could be possessive.

Nao was his. He would be no one else's dark, enthralling creature.

"You were right when we first met. You know." Nao had finally stood; still looking shaken and pale in the harsh light. He ran a strong hand through his rogue curly hair that Sesshomaru liked so much. Nao's eyes though, had returned to their usual sly, foxy humor.

"What are you referencing now?" Sesshomaru needed more context than that, his brain still felt like pulled taffy. He gracefully turned and put his hand on Nao's chest. Nao had some chest hair, but not as much as someone would think with curls like his.

"Figure skater. Took lessons and competed for like six years as a kid. Had the fucking spangled outfits and everything. My mom loved it, she was always so stoked about it. She filmed like every performance if you want to blackmail me later. I'll even give you a dagger go with it." Nao chanced humor. Again he had been right on the money about Nao, Sesshomaru smugly thought.

"My mom would have liked you. My old man already digs you. He likes your choice in cars. You and your 'ricer-mobiles'. There's no replacement for displacement. American muscle all the way." Nao continued and glided his hands up Sesshomaru's sides. His grip had a tentative edge, like he couldn't believe they were still standing together. Sesshomaru decided to ignore the jab at his preferred vehicles; he blatantly baited him.

"If Bankotsu and Jakotsu ever saw…" Sesshomaru grinned wickedly. He pulled Nao by his dark mane into the shower stall with him. Nao followed him with glee, scheming all the way.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself or I'll lift you like the princess you are on the rink in front of everyone today." Nao's full lips vibrated into the crook of his neck as he pressed Sesshomaru gently, but completely, against the grey fiberglass wall of the shower. Sesshomaru took in a lungful of breath, smelling the coconut of Nao's hair.

"… you do that and I will certainly leave you." Sesshomaru fumbled with the shower control, finally managing to turn on the water, not nearly hot enough yet.

"Not if I'm holding you. And if you get free I'd just catch you again. You may be faster on the ground, but I'm faster on ice." Nao began to suck and work his lips against the crook of his neck. Like a vacuum, Nao vied to leave another hickey and Sesshomaru just wound his fingers deeper into his curls as Nao lifted him up by his hamstrings. He never wanted Nao to do this to anyone else.

He would keep Nao. Nao was his. They would stay Team Top Gun…despite Nao's awful taste in music.

"Stalker." Sesshomaru fired back and the water finally got hot enough, the goosebumps on his skin weren't due to the freezing water. He had to have all of Nao, more of him wet, enamored, and strong against him. He took their soap and began to suds up Nao's lower body, causing him to shiver and close his eyes.

"Priss." Nao lifted his head up, his curls absorbing the stream of water like seaweed. His bourbon eyes were glowing and entrancing Sesshomaru like a sort of haunting curse. He lathered his ass, which never failed to catch Sesshomaru's attention as he walked away, and then the other part of Nao's anatomy that could never not have his attention.

"… what are you going to tell Res Life about the door?" Sesshomaru remembered why the bathroom wasn't steaming like it should. Nao's lips peeled into a devilish smile that reached his eyes which melted in heady lust.

"I'll tell them we never had one. I'll patch up the frame. They won't see it coming." Nao owned Sesshomaru's lips in a deep, longing kiss, tongue tangling in Sesshomaru's mouth. Sesshomaru had no idea he could yearn for so someone so much, someone who made his chest erupt like a forest fire.

Sesshomaru smirked into the kiss. Nao would probably totally get away with the door prank, his manipulation skills were eerily effective.

He deepened the kiss against Nao, still tasting of scotch, plums and pepper, before pushing him away slightly, making Nao gingerly lowered him back down, regarding him like a puzzle in his games.

"You didn't see this coming." Sesshomaru instantly went to his knees and as elegantly as someone could take a dick in his mouth he did. He was definitely going to get Nao back for what he did in bed earlier.

Nao's voice peaked high like a frightened girl in the horror movies they watched and Sesshomaru began to consume him whole.

They weren't ok. But that was ok. Because they were getting better together.

_'Slapshot through the heart,_   
_and you're to blame._   
_you give trust a bad name._   
_I bicycle kick,_   
_and you play your game_   
_you give love a bad name.'_

Fin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all who have read this fic! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you thought of it!
> 
> I'll be working on a Sequel to this fic, from Nao's perspective but no eta on when it will be released yet. 
> 
> thanks again! 
> 
> -TL


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